Anne O'Connor speaks with voters outside Williamstown Elementary School on Tuesday. O'Connor easily outpolled her competitors for a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Anne O'Connor on Tuesday gained a new perspective on the job she spent the last few weeks trying to attain.

 

"One of the things that I became more and more aware of as I was greeting voters today and standing outside the polls is what a responsibility this is," O'Connor said after she was elected to the Board of Selectmen by an overwhelming majority on Tuesday evening. "I feel really honored that I've been selected by all these people who came to vote today."

 

O'Connor received more than half the votes cast in the four-way race for a single three-year term on the town's top elected body.

 

She received 440 votes to defeat Alison Roe O'Grady (141), Martino Donati (137) and Jack Nogueira (73).

 

In a three-way race for two seats on the Williamstown Elementary School Committee, Catherine Keating and Joseph Johnson emerged victorious with 472 and 356 votes, respectively. Thomas Loughman was a close third with 341 votes.

 

With just two contested races on the ballot, turnout was about 18 percent, with 821 votes cast in the selectman's race out of 4,581 registered voters in the town.

 

O'Connor noted the paucity of voters.

 

"I recognize that 440 people is just a tiny fraction of the population of this town," she said. "A select person represents the entire town. That's where the responsibility part comes in, too. I do want to represent the town and be there for the townspeople, whoever they are — whether they voted for me or not."

 

O'Connor said she suspects her large margin of victory was related to her identification with "green" issues.

 

"I think the fact that I've already put a lot of energy into causes I've been committed to this year has caught people's attention," she said. "I think people see me as energetic and dedicated."

 

And she said many of those same voters next week could turn out at the annual town meeting and support a pair of proposed bylaws banning single-use plastic bags and polystyrene packaging in Williamstown.

 

"We were talking ... to people today, and we discovered a lot of people seem to be aware of the proposed bylaws already," she said. "It's been a very short amount of time, and we weren't sure how much the word had gotten out.

 

"I'm sure there will be discussion on the floor of town meeting. I don't expect everyone to say, 'Call the vote.' But it's not an issue that will go away. If it doesn't pass at town meeting, I expect we'll see some version of these bylaws be passed within the next year.

 

"I would be thrilled to see it happen at town meeting. That would give me more time to work on other things."