A historic election across the national and state-wide scale yielded several notable storylines from November 8. Nationally, businessman and Republican nominee Donald Trump won the presidency, while Massachusetts voted “no” for expanded slot-machine gaming, “no” to expand charter schools, “yes” to improve farm animal confines, and “yes” to legalize marijuana.
In contrast to the national outcome, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won Massachusetts, getting 60.8% of the vote, while Trump earned 33.5%. Clinton also won Wellesley with 72.1%, and Trump getting 22.5%. Compared to the 2012 Presidential Election, Democratic President Barack Obama defeated Republican Mitt Romney in Wellesley 57% to 42%.
Regarding the four down-ballot questions the Commonwealth voted on, Wellesley’s votes reflected half of the actual outcomes. While in Massachusetts, “yes” for recreational marijuana use got 53.6% of the vote, 58.3% of Wellesley voted “no.” For the charter school expansion question, the state majority voted “no” 62.1% to 37.9%. Wellesley was one of the few towns to vote “yes” as 54.7% agreed to increase expansion.
In addition, Massachusetts voted against slot-machine expansion 60.7% to 39.3% and Wellesley voted against it 78.2% to 21.8%. “Yes” on improving farm animal conditions won in Massachusetts and in Wellesley each by about 78%.
Students at the high school got to voice their opinions as well in Student Congress’ school-wide election, and their opinions resembled the outcomes in Massachusetts. In the nearly 1,200 votes, Clinton received 53.9% of the vote, Trump received 21.7%, and 17.4% wrote in a candidate.
In the down-ballot category, 59.1% of students voted for legalizing marijuana, 59% voted against charter school expansion, 80% voted “yes” on improving farm-animal conditions, and 64% voted against expanding slot-machine gaming.
In terms of Wellesley’s voter turnout, there were roughly 3% fewer voters in Wellesley compared to the 2012 election, with a lower turnout this year.