Natick town election results: Incumbents win in school race, Select Board member picked

Jesse Collings, The MetroWest Daily News
·2 min read

NATICK — Incumbents Catherine Brunell and Shai Fuxman were reelected to the School Committee, while Linda Wollschlager is the newest member of the Select Board following a relatively quiet annual town election on Tuesday.

Brunell and Fuxman were challenged by former School Committee member Donna McKenzie and newcomer James Roberts for their two seats on the committee.

Brunell won a second three-year term after topping the ticket with 5,641 votes. Fuxman, who has served on the School Committee since 2019 and is its current chair, collected 5,480 votes.

McKenzie served two terms on the School Committee before losing her bid for a third last year. She made another try this year but came up short with 673 votes.

Candidates and others hold signs supporting various candidates outside the Natick Community Senior Center voting place during Tuesday's annual town election, March 26, 2024.
Candidates and others hold signs supporting various candidates outside the Natick Community Senior Center voting place during Tuesday's annual town election, March 26, 2024.

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Roberts, a first time candidate, received 1,326 votes.

Wollschlager, a former member of the Natick Finance Committee, takes over a Select Board seat being vacated by Paul Joseph, who did not seek reelection. Wollschlager, who is vice president of operations for data analytics company WebReply, served on the Finance Committee from 2020 to 2024, when she resigned to run for Select Board.

Seven candidates vie for six Town Meeting seats in Precinct 7

The only other contested race this year was for Town Meeting member in Precinct 7, where seven candidates — including Wollschlager — ran for six available seats. Paul Griesmer (704 votes), Thomas Daly (686 votes), Steven Owens (658 votes), Wollschlager (644 votes), Rebekah Stendahl (570 votes) and Andrew Enright (487 votes) were elected to Town Meeting. Patricia Sciarra (391 votes) came up short.

Terry Miller, warden for Precinct 10, enters mail-in ballots Tuesday for Natick's annual town election at the Community Senior Center, March 26, 2024.
Terry Miller, warden for Precinct 10, enters mail-in ballots Tuesday for Natick's annual town election at the Community Senior Center, March 26, 2024.

Additional winners from election night, all of whom ran uncontested, included Peter Nottonson (5,018 votes), Planning Board; Kenneth Van Blarcom (5,053 votes), Recreation and Parks Commission; Molly Reed (5,019 votes), Board of Assessors; and Peter Dellicolli (5,178 votes), Board of Health.

The Natick Town Clerk's Office reported that 7,087 ballots were cast but did not have a figure for how many registered voters are in town. But according to the presidential primary results from earlier this month, there were 24,932 registered voters in Natick, which would make turnout for Tuesday's election about 28%.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Natick election results: Brunell, Fuxman win School Committee seats