Wareham voters seemed enthusiastic for change in Tuesday's election. High voter turnout ushered challengers and political newcomers into office in four out of five contested races.

Challengers Steve Holmes and Cara Winslow unseated incumbent Selectmen Bruce Sauvageau and John Cronan. Claire Smith defeated long-time Town Moderator John Donahue. Rhonda Veugen defeated Lynne Burroughs by ten votes for a seat on the School Commmittee. Only Town Clerk Mary Ann Silva retained her seat for a fourth term against a challenge from Melodye Conway.

“It's a sea change in this community right now that's long overdue,” said Robert Brousseau, a longtime member of the School Committee who decided not to seek reelection this year. “Good people have been vilified and attacked – employees, library trustees - and good people didn't want this to go on anymore.”

4,009 voters, representing twenty-six percent of Wareham's registered voters, cast ballots in the April 6 Town Election, surpassing the last previous town election turnouts of 15 % and 7 %.

Holmes, a newcomer to Wareham elective politics, was the top vote-getter in every one of the town's six precincts. Smith and Silva also carried every precinct. Incumbent Cronan inched out Winslow as the No. 2 vote-getter by 11 votes in Precinct 2, but she came in No. 2 everywhere else.

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Lynne Burroughs, Veugen's opponent in the School Committee race, said Tuesday night that she will request a recount. She said she preferred not to immediately comment on the results.

The results caught many candidates and their supporters by surprise.

Cronan said that he was disappointed in the results, but that it was a pleasure to assist the people of Wareham.

"I would like to say it was my pleasure to help out in Wareham for the past 14 years. The last 3 as one of the Selectman," Cronan wrote in an email.  "There are a lot of nice people in Town. Some that needed some help, and again it was my pleasure to assist. I am pleased to see some 4000 people vote. I called both Mr. Holmes and Ms. Winslow last evening and congratulated each and offered any assistance possible if they wished. I wished them the best moving forward and would like to thank the many people that came out in support of me yesterday, and the people that stood out with me all day holding signs. It is people like you that make Wareham the nice Town that it is. It is people like you that help me and others run for and serve in elected offices.Any time I can help, just call!"

Sauvageau, who bid his colleagues farewell at the end of Tuesday night's Board of Selectmen's meeting, did not respond to a request for further comment.

Holmes said he kept thinking back to last fall when he first began considering a run.

"I think back to September, and I didn't know anybody!" he said. So he decided to introduce himself to voters through letters, visits to neighborhood hangouts and just listening to voters.

"I actually really enjoyed the campaign," he admitted. "The outpouring of support has been unbelievable."

Winslow said she was shocked by her victory.

After The Standard-Times of New Bedford endorsed Holmes and Frank DeFelice, who finished fifth in the balloting, Winslow had planned a quiet night at home.

"I was waiting at home with a few very close supporters and family members, not expecting good news," she said.

But as word of results came trickling in - individuals and blogs in town spread word of the tally long before the results were officially posted - Winslow left home to join the other victors at various spots throughout town. She left moderator-elect Smith's gathering at Salernos around 10 p.m. to go relieve the babysitter who was found at the last minute.

Winslow said that, in hindsight, she was glad that she was not endorsed by the newspaper, which ran its endorsement of Holmes and DeFelice under the headline "Throw the bums out."

"It's time to put the negativity behind us, and it's time to move forward," Winslow said.

DeFelice said that, although disappointed that he would not be part of a new board, he shared Winslow's sentiment about the board moving forward.

"I wanted to move the town forward and I'm glad that we got the switch in the board, DeFelice said. "To me the result proves the [Board of Selectmen] were going in the wrong direction."

DeFelice, who ran unsuccessfully two years ago, said he had no plans to make another run for office. "Twice is enough," he said.

In addition to their surprise, many of the victors felt validated by the election's large turnout.

"I'm honored and humbled by how many people came and demonstrated that they have faith in the job I've been doing," said Silva, the only incumbent who was reelected.

Moderator-elect Smith echoed Silva's sentiments.

"[The victory] is not about me, it's about people who were willing to put time into the community by campaigning and by coming out voting," she said.

Dick Wheeler, the citizen behind the Vote April 6 campaign, said that the increased turnout was a sign of a more civicly engaged Wareham.

"What motivated me to do the Vote April 6 was frustration with poor local turnout, " Wheeler said. "I could turn on the news and see what was going on in Mississippi but didn't know what was going on in Parkwood Beach."

Nevertheless, even after months of placing signs, buttons and ads throughout Wareham, he had no idea that the election results would be so declarative.

"I think people have been ignited by the campaign, yet I had no sense of the pulse in the town."

Yet once that pulse was revealed with the final vote tally, the winning candidates expressed relief that the campaign was over.

"I'm tired. We really worked hard," said Smith. "Now I have to prepare for Town Meeting."

Holmes said he was anxious to begin work on economic development issues such as increasing tourism opportunities and improving local transportation opportunities.

"I look forward to doing the work: putting Wareham back on the map and making it the jewel it should be," he said.

His 9-year-old son Sean, celebrating with Holmes' mother, daughter, fiancee and other supporters after the victory, had a different perspective:

"It's about time that I don't have to go out and hold signs all the time."

In addition to the contested races, three candidates were voted into office unopposed, and the ballot contained two referendum questions.

Maryann D. Morse was elected as an assessor.  Donald B. Hall was elected to a five-year term on the Housing Authority, and Patricia Harju Zimmer was elected to a three-year term on the Housing Authority.

Question 1, asking whether voters were satisfied with the current form of government, yielded a 49% "yes," 51% "no" response. Inserted at the request of the Charter Review Committee, which has recommended that Wareham move to a mayoral form of government, the question was intended to be a referendum only on whether voters liked the town's current open Town Meeting and Selectmen form of government. But the results may be meaningless. It is possible that different voters interpreted the question in different ways -- as intended, as a referendum on the mayor concept, as a referendum on current leadership -- and voted accordingly.

Question 2, asking whether voters favored allowing Selectmen to contract for development of affordable senior housing on the so-called Westfield property, resulted in a 54% "yes," 46% "no" vote. Championed by Selectmen, most vocally by Sauvageau, the proposal has been repeated defeated at Town Meeting. Westfield is on the Town Meeting warrant again this year.