TOPSFIELD — Just two days ago, Nancy Luther was joking that the event hall she and Martha Morrison had rented could host the wake for their political careers.
Instead, 40 people were there last night congratulating Topsfield's newly elected selectmen, who each scored hundreds more votes than their two prominent competitors.
"I had lots of folks helping," Luther said. "I think folks voted for me because of my experience in town government, which is varied, and in state government."
Yet the race pitted four of the town's most prominent political activists against each other for two selectman seats. Each of the candidates led at least one town board. Morrison, who received as many votes as the third- and fourth-place candidates combined, seemed embarrassed when asked to describe her victory.
"It's great," she said.
Morrison said she and Luther hadn't been running as a team, but both wanted to thank supporters.
"We just wanted a place where we could get everyone together in support," Morrison said.
Luther echoed that.
"It shows with a team effort you can do anything," she said.
Steve Clark, who opted not to run for re-election as a selectman, was holding signs with Morrison and Luther yesterday outside Topsfield's sole polling station. During the post-election celebration at the Beekeeping Building at the Topsfield Fair grounds, people were already talking about collecting the political signs — for reuse in three years for the next campaigns.
Coming in third and fourth place were Heidi Fox, who had run unsuccessfully two years ago, and John McArdle, who had lost a re-election campaign in the 1990s. McArdle has been chairman of the selectmen; Fox has chaired a Town Hall building committee; Morrison has led the Planning Board; and Luther has led the Council on Aging.
In other voting, Jeffrey Evaul won re-election to the Elementary School Committee, while Susan Archer will join him there. Another newcomer, Pamala Jefferys, failed in her bid for one of the two seats.
Planning Board member Robert Winship easily won re-election with 1,042 votes, while write-in candidate Jonathan Young easily won the contest for a second seat with 51 votes.
Rail trail supported again
For the second time this week, Topsfield voters backed a rail trail by more than a 3-2 ratio.
On the heels of Tuesday's Town Meeting vote to keep the rail trail on schedule, voters yesterday overwhelmingly threw their support behind the trail in a nonbinding referendum. This time, 868 people supported it while 515 opposed it.
Rail Trail Committee Chairman Joe Geller appreciated the support.
"I'm gratified," he said. "It's 17 years that I've been working on it."
The committee has vowed to build the trail without any town money, but yesterday's referendum did not say who would, or wouldn't, pay for it. Geller said more people might have supported the referendum if they knew the rail trail would be built at no cost to the town.
