Sarah Marx and Dan Demeritt won the town council race in the Orono municipal election on Tuesday, March 14. Jacob Eckert and Kevin Roberge secured the two seats for the RSU No. 26 School Board.
The town reported a total of 785 votes cast for the election, 300 of which were absentee ballots.
“We went through a period of time where we were begging people to pull nomination papers to get enough people on the ballot to run. Now we’re seeing an excitement around giving back to the community, and that’s a wonderful thing,” Sophia Wilson, Orono town manager, told WABI-5 on Tuesday.
Despite being a write-in candidate, Marx, an active member in the Orono community, grabbed her seat with 432 votes. She hopes to strengthen the town’s commitments to diversity and inclusion, maintain stable taxes and support relationships between the town, local businesses and the University of Maine, which she writes on her website.
“Thank you to my fellow candidates, to everyone who worked on my campaign and most of all to the Orono voters! I feel honored to have this chance to serve and I look forward to working together to build an inclusive, dynamic and responsive town government!” Marx posted to her Facebook page.
Demeritt, the former leader of communications and marketing at UMaine, won with 408 votes.
“Thank you for the honor of serving our community on the Orono Town Council,” Demeritt wrote on his Facebook page. “Let’s create belonging, plan a shared vision, and prioritize things that bring Orono Together.”
Marx and Demeritt were committed to getting UMaine students to vote in the town election. Demeritt hosted an early voting event at Tacorita on Mill Street, where the Orono community could eat free tacos and meet the candidates. Marx hosted a Get Out and Vote Bus that shuttled UMaine students to polls for early voting.
Eckert won reelection for the school board with 452 votes. Finally, Roberge, a professor of mathematics and gender studies at UMaine, received 418 votes.
Marx, Demeritt, Eckert and Roberge will hold their positions for a three-year term.
