In a nutshell, Mr. Tocco was removed from office by a margin of about 4 to 1. Over 78% of the votes cast were for removal. The total number of votes cast, including absentee votes, was 3,430. For a special election, this is actually quite high. Typical turnout for a special might be from 1,500 to 2,200. There was quite a lot of interest in this issue.

The total YES votes were 2,691 and the total NO were 739.

Here is a breakdown by polling place:

High School YES 412 NO 157
Housing Authority YES 275 NO 52
Anna McCabe YES 614 NO 242
Elk’s Lodge YES 443 NO 86
Old County School YES 862 NO 185

Absentee YES 85 NO 17

The credit for this win for Smithfield certainly goes to all those who worked so hard to bring it about, but also to the voters themselves. Winning by a few hundred votes would have accomplished our goal, but winning by such a wide margin sent a clear message.

One radio commentator said that if the recall effort succeeds, it would be due to its good organization. I can't agree. Certainly organization was critical, as were the efforts of the approximately 100 people who participated. However, no one took this recall lightly, and absent a compelling reason to do it, this effort would have failed.

The voters are simply not going to remove an official frivolously. This effort, and its high turnout, demonstrated that our citizens acted responsibility and exercised the only option available to remedy what they clearly saw as a major problem in our town.