CHESTERTOWN — Voters here on Tuesday elected Meghan Efland as their new mayor and Sheila Austrian to a full four-year term on the council.
Efland (586) was the top vote-getter in a three-candidate race that included Mark Mumford (453) and Nikita Beck-Burt (29).
This was the first contested election for mayor since 2013 when Chris Cerino prevailed in a crowded field of seven candidates.
Efland is two years into a second term as the Fourth Ward council member, and will vacate that seat when she is sworn in as mayor at the first meeting in January 2026.
She is succeeding David Foster, who did not seek re-election.
In the First Ward council race, Austrian received 238 votes — 62 more than challenger Dwight Zilinskas.
Austrian won a special election in January to serve out the remaining 11 months on Tim O’Brien’s term.
The election results are unofficial, according to Town Clerk Lynda Thomas.
She said some absentee ballots already had been counted.
Yet to be counted are mail-in ballots that come in Wednesday.
The final count of absentee ballots will not change the election results.
Turnout for the Tuesday, Nov. 4 election in Chestertown was about 30 percent.
By 1 p.m., 608 voters had cast their ballots at the firehouse on Maple Avenue, the only polling place for this election.
By 3:30 p.m., that number had climbed to 847.
Polls opened at 7 a.m. and closed at 8 p.m.
There are 3,541 registered voters in Chestertown, including 947 in the First Ward, according to Thomas.
Also up for election was the Third Ward council seat, though no one filed by the Oct. 3 deadline and incumbent Jose Medrano did not seek a second term.
In the new year, the newly constituted panel of mayor and council will begin the process of filling the vacancies in the Third Ward and, now, the Fourth Ward because of Efland’s election as mayor.
Anyone interested in either council seat can find more information by calling town hall at 410-778-0500.
Per the town charter, Section 8 … “In case of a vacancy on the council for any reason, the Mayor and Council, within 45 days, shall elect from the same ward in which the vacancy occurred some qualified person to fill such vacancy for the unexpired term. In case of a vacancy in the office of Mayor for any reason, the council within 45 days, shall elect some qualified person to fill the vacancy until the next regular town election. Any vacancies on the council or in the office of mayor shall be filled by the favorable votes of a majority of the remaining members of the Mayor and Council. The results of any such vote shall be recorded in the minutes of the council. In the event no one is appointed within the specified 45 day period, the Board of Election Supervisors for the Town will arrange for a special election.”