Voters approve Randall Meadow bond; elect Staskus, Sabin
Counting numerous write-in votes continues
March 3, 2026 | By Lisa Scagliotti, Sandy Yusen and Sarah AndrewsThis post was published on election night. An updated report from the Town Meeting Day floor meeting was posted separately on March 5.
Waterbury election officials on Tuesday night carefully count ballots with multiple write-in choices marked by voters. Photo by Gordon Miller
Waterbury Town Meeting voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a $4.3 million bond to support a flood mitigation project proposed for the Randall Meadow property along the Winooski River.
According to unofficial results released by Assistant Town Clerk Carol Dawes, the vote was a resounding yes, 1,081 to 360.
The proposed project would excavate the 40-acre open field to create more flood storage with the aim to minimize fluture flood damage along the downtown corridor. The town has been awarded a $2 million federal disaster recovery Community Development Block Grant for the effort, which requires town officials to gain voter approval to borrow funds for the project in addition to the grant.
Complete election results were only partially determined by about 8:30 p.m. due to the abundance of offices with write-in contenders on Tuesday's ballot. “There are a large number of write-ins still being tallied. The official results will be released tomorrow,” Dawes said in an email sharing the partial returns.
One of the two select board races had a definitive result: In the three-way contest for two one-year seats, Martha Staskus won 907 votes, Sandy Sabin had 731, and Evan Karl Hoffman fell short with 605.
The race for the board's three-year seat appeared to be leaning toward the write-in candidate Don Schneider, but those votes have not been officially determined. The returns list Chris Viens, whose name was on the ballot, with 589 votes; the tally for write-in votes was 856. Challenger Don Schneider ran as a write-in for that race.
The only other contest on the ballot was between two write-in candidates for a one-year term on the Harwood School Board. Former board member Michael Frank and newcomer Theo Hanna were vying for that seat. The preliminary election results list 306 write-in votes and 1,225 blank ballots.
The returns noted that 1,531 of Waterbury’s 4,578 registered voters cast ballots in the election, for a turnout of 33.4%.
ORCA Media recorded Waterbury Town Meeting on March 3. The video will be posted on the orcamedia.net website under Local Government in the Waterbury Municipal Meetings section.