Whitney wins seat as Selectmen
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

Town Clerk Linda Ramsdell swears-in newly elected Selectman Margaret Whitney (center), as her husband, Bruce, watches. Whitney was elected with 53 percent of the vote on Tuesday. JOURNAL PHOTO/CAITLYN KELLEHER

Margaret "Maggie" Whitney is ready to hit the ground running, hoping to call a special meeting of the Ashburnham Board of Selectmen before Saturday's special town meeting after her win against incumbent Mark Carlisle.

Whitney won the only contested race on Tuesday's annual town election, with 53 percent of the vote. She received 401 of the 747 votes cast, while Carlisle received 343 votes.

"I'm overwhelmed," Whitney said moments after results were announced to a crowd of about 20 people in the gym of John R. Briggs Elementary School. "I'm thrilled. … I can't thank the voters enough."

The single contested race and the bad weather combined to bring 20 percent of the town's 3,759 registered voters out to the polls.

"I think people are ready for openness," she said. "People want to know what's going on."

Margaret Whitney and her supports sit under their tent at the front of John R. Briggs School, the town's polling location, to encourage voters despite the pouring rain. JOURNAL PHOTO/CAITLYN KELLEHER

After the results were announced, Carlisle walked over to Whitney to shake her hand and to wish her good luck.

Whitney, who served as a member of the Advisory Board until her election and swearing-in on Tuesday, said she wants a chance to discuss the Town Meeting warrant with her new colleagues, Jonathan Dennehy and Christopher Gagnon.

She said the first step will to be reorganize the board by electing a new chairman. She also said she wants a chance to reconsider a citizens' petition article to fund design plans for a senior center in the VMS Building. She also expressed concern that the language in that warrant article was not changed back to the original wording of the petition.

"I've been so involved," she said. "I know the warrant and I know the budget. I'm not just walking in off the street."

Whitney has been campaigning since December, when she started considering a race for the board.

She and Carlisle spent the day under separate tents in the rain trying to encourage people to stop and vote. Whitney said she watched Carlisle on his cell phone and waving to those coming into the elementary school all day.

"I really thought he was going to win," she said.

But, Whitney found a penny in the dirt as she was campaigning at the entrance to Briggs' parking lot and she said it was a sign from her dad that things were going to work out.