GREENFIELD — Nearly 33% of registered voters turned out Tuesday to have their voices heard regarding who should be mayor for the next four years, and cast their votes for other key municipal positions like City Council, School Committee and Board of Assessors.

In other words, of 13,051 registered voters, 4,297 voted in the election, according to unofficial election results, representing a drop from the turnout percentages for the 2019 and 2015 mayoral elections.

“I was really expecting, personally — based on local elections and federal and state elections — a higher number,” City Clerk Kathy Scott said Wednesday morning. “I was expecting more like 40% to 50%.”

At around 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, as she prepared to close the polls at Greenfield High School, Scott said turnout for the day had been steady, but appeared likely to be lower overall compared to past mayoral elections. Poll workers and members of Mayor-elect Virginia “Ginny” Desorgher’s campaign team, too, said the high school appeared to have a steady stream of voters throughout the day.

By comparison, 5,557 votes were cast in the November 2019 biennial election, which was about a 47% turnout, the clerk’s office previously reported. At that time, the city had a total of 11,880 registered voters. In that election, Mayor Roxann Wedegartner defeated her opponents, Precinct 6 Councilor Sheila Gilmour and former Precinct 3 City Councilor Brickett Allis.

Voters were also asked in 2019 to approve a $19.5 million allocation to build a new library, which opened on Main Street this summer after about 18 months of construction. They also voted to designate Greenfield as a “safe city.”

The November 2015 biennial election, meanwhile, had a 40.6% turnout, according to the City Clerk’s Office. In that election, mayoral challenger Patty Morey Walker hoped to unseat former Mayor William Martin, who was running for a third term.

Resident Peg Saulnier, who has served as a poll worker since she retired in 2010, said she noticed a steady flow of voters all day on Tuesday, with few exceptions. At least a few residents from her precinct were first-time voters, Saulnier noted.

“They kept us busy,” she said.

Presidential elections tend to turn out more voters than ones for local offices, Saulnier said. In 2016 and 2020, voters turned out for the races between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and then Donald Trump and President Joe Biden, respectively. In both elections, the polling location was “mobbed” with voters.

“You would think [voters] would want [to follow] their local politics more than the presidential … because it more directly affects everybody,” Saulnier said. “The local, it’s usually somebody you know. I knew both [mayoral candidates].”

Voting breakdown

In Tuesday’s mayoral race, Desorgher received 72% of the vote, or 3,104 votes compared to Wedegartner’s 1,144 votes, according to unofficial election results. The mayor-elect came out ahead of Wedegartner in all nine precincts. There were 19 write-ins and 29 blanks.

In other races, residents John Garrett and Wahab Minhas were each elected to serve four-year terms as at-large city councilors, with 1,991 and 2,811 votes, respectively; current Chair Amy Proietti and newcomers Ann Childs and Stacey Sexton were elected to serve four-year terms on the School Committee with 2,059, 2,505 and 2,416 votes, respectively; and Charles “Chuck” Green was elected to serve on the Board of Assessors with 2,392 votes.

All elected officials will be sworn in at the start of 2024.

Results are considered unofficial until provisional ballots are certified, which must be done within three days per state law, Scott explained. Residents are given a provisional ballot when a voter’s registration status is in question.

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.