2023 Election Results: Incumbents Keep City Council Seats

By Zendelle Bouchard

All three incumbent Sanford City Councilors retained their seats in Tuesday’s election. Turnout was good for a year with no presidential or gubernatorial contest, with 27% of Sanford/Springvale’s 15,704 registered voters casting a ballot.

In a tight race for two 3-year Council seats, Deputy Mayor Maura Herlihy received 2,215 votes and Councilor Jonathan Martell received 2,190. Challenger Oliver Jones III received 1,877.

For the single 1-year seat, which finishes out the term that Becky Brink held before being elected Mayor two years ago, Councilor Nathaniel Hitchcock was reelected by a comfortable margin with 1,847 of the ballots cast in his favor. His two challengers were former Town Councilor Victor DiGregorio, who received 1,048 votes, and David Gomes with 820 votes.

Candidates for the other local offices were all incumbents and all unopposed. Paula Cote and Amy Sevigny were reelected to 3-year terms on the School Committee. Roland Cote won another 3-year term as Trustee of the Sanford Water District. Keith Patterson and Nathaniel Hitchcock were reelected to 3-year terms on the Board of Trustees of the Sanford Sewerage District.

On the eight statewide ballot questions, Sanford and Springvale voters were in line with voters across Maine in approving six and rejecting two.

Question 1: Do you want to bar some quasi-governmental entities and all consumer-owned electric utilities from taking on more than $1 billion in debt unless they get statewide voter approval? 

• Sanford/Springvale: 71% yes, 29% no
• Statewide: 65% yes, 35% no

Question 2: Do you want to ban foreign governments & entities that they own, control or influence from making campaign contributions or financing communications for or against candidates or ballot questions?

• Sanford/Springvale: 88% yes, 12% no
• Statewide: 86% yes, 14% no

Question 3: Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine?

• Sanford/Springvale: 26% yes, 74% no
• Statewide: 30% yes, 70% no

Question 4: Do you want to require vehicle manufacturers to standardize on-board diagnostic systems and provide remote access to those systems and mechanical data to owners and independent repair facilities?

• Sanford/Springvale: 85% yes, 15% no
• Statewide: 84% yes, 16% no

Question 5: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to change the time period for judicial review of the validity of written petitions from within 100 days from the date of filing to within 100 business days from the date of filing of a written petition in the office of the Secretary of State, with an exception for petitions filed withing 30 calendar days before or after a general election?

• Sanford/Springvale: 55% yes, 45% no
• Statewide: 58% yes, 42% no

Question 6: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to require that all of the provisions of the Constitution be included in the official printed copies of the Constitution prepared by the Secretary of State?

• Sanford/Springvale: 73% yes, 27% no
• Statewide: 73% yes, 27% no

Question 7: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision requiring a circulator of a citizen’s initiative or people’s veto petition to be a resident of Maine and a registered voter in Maine, requirements that have been ruled unconstitutional in federal court?

• Sanford/Springvale: 28% yes, 72% no
• Statewide: 32% yes, 68% no

Question 8: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to remove a provision prohibiting a person under guardianship for reasons of mental illness from voting for Governor, Senators and Representatives, which the United States District Court for the District of Maine found violates the United States Constitution and federal law?

• Sanford/Springvale: 43% yes, 57% no
• Statewide: 47% yes, 53% no

The Sanford/Springvale results are official. See detailed vote counts here. The statewide results are not complete as of this publication. These figures reflect the vote with approximately 95.5% of the statewide votes counted.