Houlton voters elected three incumbents, one challenger and one declared write-in to their Town Council.
In recent years, most council seats went uncontested, but in the aftermath of former Town Manager Cameron Clark’s arrest and dismissal, Tuesday’s midterm election drew eight candidates for five open town council seats.
Incumbent councilors Sue Tortello and John “J.J.” Schools were on the ballot for one of three open three-year terms. Declared write-in candidates Matt Carr and former Council Chairman Chris Robinson were also vying for a three-year seat. Councilor Fred Grant and declared write-in candidate Daniel Dobbs ran for one open two-year term. Darrell Scott White challenged Councilor Jeffrey Maquire for a one-year term.
Incumbent Grant led the pack with 1,766 votes, followed by Schools with 1,437, Tortello with 1,333, White 1,025 and Robinson with 131.
Incumbent Maguire was not re-elected with 739 votes and declared write-ins Carr with 105 and Dobbs with 9 votes fell short of taking a seat.
In last year’s special general election, Tortello picked up a one-year seat with 1,035 votes. Schools, Maguire and Grant were appointed to one-year terms following the 2025 resignations of five councilors.
Houlton voter turn-out on Tuesday surpassed expectations with 200 votes cast within the first two hours, according to Town Clerk Khylee Wampler. There were few lulls throughout the day, and by 3:37 p.m. out of 3,549 registered voters, 1,000 had voted in person and 769 absentee ballots had been processed, Wampler said.
Additionally, residents who hadn’t voted for several years re-registered on Tuesday to cast a vote.
Wampler was surprised by national media attention on the Houlton race when reporters and photographers from the New York Times and Wall Street Journal arrived to cover the voter turnout, she said.
“The Wall Street Journal has never come here for an election,” Wampler said.
