Low Turnout Plagues City Elections; City Council Shakeup

First-time Cambridge City Council candidate Marjorie C. Decker will lead several new candidates voted to next year's city council, while three-term Councillor Katherine Triantafillou may be fighting for a political future, according to last night's first-round, unofficial election results.

Decker received 1,623 number-one votes in yesterday's election, placing third among the 24 council candidates, while Triantafillou is in ninth place with 1,149 votes, just 141 ahead of David P. Maher.

Cambridge residents elected nine councillors at the polls, but because of Cambridge's proportional representation voting system, final results will not be known until today.

"I'm delighted with Marjorie Decker's strong performance," said Jarrett T. Barrios '90, one of Cambridge's state representatives, at "The Count" at the Cambridge Senior Center.

"She's a candidate that will push a progressive agenda in Cambridge, one that benefits everyone in Cambridge," Barrios added.

Cambridge resident Donald S. Down said Decker had achieved the primary goal of her campaign, which was to get support from diverse groups of Cantabrigians.

"There's the surprise of the election right there," said Down of Decker's total. "She got the Independent vote because of her upbringing and background and the [Cambridge Civic Association] vote because of her work with [state representative Alice K. Wolf.]"

Conservative incumbent Anthony D. Galluccio again led the voting this year, receiving 2,640 number-one votes.

He was followed by current councillor Kathleen L. Born with 1,633, Decker, state representative and incumbent Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. (1,464), challenger Jim Braude (1,455), and incumbents Henrietta S. Davis (1,445), Kenneth E. Reeves '72 (1,373) and Michael A. Sullivan (1,293).

Like Decker, Davis was also a surprise finisher last night. A two-term councillor, Davis's support had been slipping, and some council observers had questioned her viability for re-election.

But Davis has not only seemingly secured a spot on the council. She also managed to increase the number-one votes she garnered at the polls from 926 last year to over 500 more this year.

Competing for the ninth and final council spot are Triantafillou (1,149) and Maher (1,018), with many transfer and auxiliary votes still to be counted today.

In 1997, Triantafillou--who has spoken out against domestic violence and on behalf of gay rights--was the third-highest vote-getter.

Barrios said he was "very sad" about Triantafillou's surprisingly low initial showing.

"She's a very bright light on the council," Barrios said.

Cliff Truesdell, a former council candidate appearing on tonight's broadcast of local political television talk show "Cambridge Inside Out," said Triantafillou "has brought it on herself" by being divisive and isolating herself on the council.

"She gambled and she lost and she did not lose graciously" in the 1998 council race for mayor, Truesdell said.

After that loss, Triantafillou resigned from the Cambridge Civic Association (CCA), Cambridge's liberal political party and a longtime endorser of her campaign.

One of Triantafillou's campaign workers said the outcome has left many of the councillor's supporters upset.

"Anthony Galluccio getting that many votes is disgusting," said the supporter who would not give her name, adding that she didn't want to live in the city based on the results.

Maher was upbeat about his chances heading into today's finalization of the results.

"I think that the way the transfers look, it looks very promising," Maher said.

According to local political analyst Glenn S. Koocher '71, 1,400 CCA "transfer" votes, which are votes transferred from candidates who meet quota--and thus are elected--or from eliminated candidates, are still up for grabs.

He said that if the CCA transfers go to Maher, which is likely, Triantafillou's chances are gone.

Still, council watchers said it is hard to predict whether Maher or Triantafillou will secure the spot.

"You're never quite sure who's going to come from behind," said "Inside Out" host Barbara Ackermann two days before the election. "It's a fun game."

Two candidates who tried to appeal to different constituencies--Cambridge's sparse Republican population and extensive student population--finished back in the pack.

David Trumbull, chair of the Republican City Committee, received 522 votes, while MIT student Erik C. Snowberg received 425.

"Erik Snowberg's 2,000 [votes] from MIT fizzled," said Frank A. Pedro, chair of the Cambridge Democratic City Committee, referring to the large number of students Snowberg registered for the elections.

Other candidates said they were pleased with their total even if they weren't going to get elected.

"I got more bang-for-the-buck than any other candidate out there," said challenger James M. Williamson, adding that he broke 100 votes and survived the first-round elimination.

Many Cantabrigians taking in the excitement at the Senior Center said they were disappointed with the low voter turnout.

Though the 18,549 votes cast this year were an improvement over the 17,229 from two years ago, it was still low relative to the more than 40,000 active registered voters in the city.

"It's a sad commentary that we're only able to turn out 18,000 voters for this election," Pedro said.

"I'm surprised that more people didn't get out and vote," said Lillian T. Maher, the candidate's mother.

Before the announcement of the unofficial results at 10 p.m., over 100 citizens, police officers, political pundits and election officials crowded the Senior Center in anticipation, just as they have done every two years.

"The excitement level is building," said one staffer for School Committee candidate Melody L. Brazo's campaign.

Julia B. Dunbar, a new Cambridge voter, said "The Count"--done by hand at the Longfellow School until 1997--was an example of democracy in action.

"It's democracy actually happening," Dunbar said.