PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Two new city council members were elected by voters to four-year terms on Tuesday.
James Carroll, local business owner of Morning Star Art and Framing, received 1,034 votes and Hank King, safety director with Buck Construction, received 929 votes. They replace city council member Mike Chasse and city council chairperson Jacob Shaw.
Incumbent SAD1 school board member Lori Kenneson also ran unopposed and got 65 votes, earning a three-year term.
Three out of four local ballot questions involving proposed amendments to the Presque Isle city charter passed.
Question 2 to allow the ability for city council members to hold remote meetings and cast votes narrowly passed 730 to 705. Question 3 to allow the City Council to appoint the Election Warden and Warden Clerk passed 903 to 526.
Question 4 to reduce signatures required to run for municipal office from 75 to 50 also passed by 764 to 692.
Question 1 to change the title of the head of city council from chairperson to mayor failed with 727 no votes to 692 yes votes.
For the ballot referendum questions, Presque Isle residents sided with the rest of the state in opposition to Question 3 with 1,139 no votes to 362 yes votes.
Question 3 asked if voters wanted 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.
Presque Isle residents overwhelmingly voted yes on Question 2 to ban foreign governments and entities that they own, control, or influence from making campaign contributions or financing communications for or against candidates or ballot questions. The vote was 1,264 yes votes to 238 no votes.
Presque Isle voters were in favor of Question 4 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. The yes votes were overwhelmingly 1,095 to 310 no votes.
Massachusetts was the first state to pass the right to repair ballot question in 2020 with Maine becoming the second state in the country to do so.
A total of 1,518 voters participated in the election in the city.
It was a steady stream of voters all day with a couple of rushes but nothing too overwhelming, said Kim Finnemore, Presque Isle city clerk. Absentee ballot voters were roughly around 270 for the off year election.
