More potential candidates in Watertown have taken out papers to run for elected office with less than a week before the deadline for candidates to be certified.
Several candidates have officials made the ballot in November by having their candidate papers certified, while more than a dozen have taken out papers to run for office.
The races with the most candidates are for Town Councilor At-Large and the four-year School Committee seats. Candidates must gather 100 signatures of registered Watertown voters, and they must be certified by the Town Clerk’s office. The signatures must be submitted to and certified by the Town Clerk by 5 p.m. on Monday, July 31, and the Town Clerk has until Aug. 14 to certify the signatures.
Town Council
Eight people have taken out papers to run for the four Councilor At-Large seats, including three incumbents. Susan Falkoff will not be running for re-election. New on the list since early July are Anthony Donato and Matthew Brown.
Three candidates have been certified for the Councilor At-Large ballot: Michael Dattoli and Tony Palomba, both incumbents, and challenger Caroline Bays. Three others have taken out papers, but have not yet had them certified: Aaron Dushku (an incumbent), David Stokes and Michelle Cokonougher.
Currently, only the incumbents have taken out papers to run for the other Town Council seats, and all have been certified: Town Council President Marks Sideris, District A Councilor Angeline Kounelis, District B Councilor Lisa Feltner, District C Councilor Vincent Piccirilli and District D Councilor Ken Woodland.
School Committee
The race for the three School Committee four-year seats has drawn the interest of seven candidates. Since early July, two have pulled papers, incumbent Liz Yusem and challenger Lily Rayman-Read.
With Yusem running, all three incumbents have pulled papers to run again. The only candidate to be certified, so far, is incumbent Guido Guidotti. John Portz is the third incumbent.
Challenging for the seats, along with Rayman-Read, are Michael Shepard, Elaina Griffith and Amy Donohue.
This year, there is also a two-year School Committee seat up for election due to the resignation of Candace Miller. Three candidates have taken out papers: Lindsay Mosca, Aviva Manin and Amy Donohue. Mosca has had her papers certified. Donohue can only run in one of the two School Committee elections.
Library Trustees
Four people have taken out papers to run for the three seats on the Board of Library Trustees and only one is an incumbent, Leanne Hammonds.
Two challengers have had their signatures certified: Michael Hanlon and Daniel Pritchard. Since early July, a fourth candidate, David Breakstone, has pulled papers to run.
The election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2017.