The Portland City Council and school board elections have no clear winners yet

Voters will fill East End Community School on Tuesday. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer

There were no clear winners in Portland’s three City Council races or for a seat on the school board shortly after the polls closed on Tuesday night.

Polls closed at 8 p.m., and as of 8:15 p.m., the city had not yet reported results in those races. Jessica Grondin, a spokesperson for the city, told reporters and candidates awaiting numbers Tuesday night that “it will take a while for results to come due to the large number of ballots and polling places where lines remain.”

Three Portland City Council seats were up for election this year — in Districts 1 and 2 and one at-large seat — after council members Roberto Rodriguez, Anna Trevorrow and Victoria Pelletier all opted not to seek re-election. Leading up to Election Day, many city candidates cited housing and homelessness as top issues.

This was also the first election in Portland in which every candidate running for a council seat had registered under the city’s new clean election program. And last month, some candidates were surprised a national political action committee spent $56,000 to support a handful of more moderate candidates.

In District 1, where Trevorrow gave up her seat, Sarah Michniewicz and Todd Morse are vying to represent East End, Bayside and Casco Bay Islands. Both candidates have said housing and transportation are priorities for them, though they had different views on that how to tackle those problems.

District 2 – currently represented by Victoria Pelletier – drew a busy race with Atiim Boykin, Nancy English, Catherine Nekoie, Robert O’Brien and Wesley Pelletier all running for the seat. District 2 covers most of the west side of the peninsula, between High Street and County Way, and a small portion of Back Cove.

The big race was also well attended five candidates: Jess Falero, Benjamin Grant, Grayson Lookner, Brandon Mazer and Jacob Viola. The candidates came from different backgrounds and different levels of experience, but also said homelessness and housing were top issues facing the city.

Although only three seats on the Portland school board were up for election this fall one race was contested.

A substitute teacher, Maya Lena, and a business owner, John Rousseau, ran for that general seat. The political newcomers entered the race after Nyalat Biliew announced she would not seek re-election.

Boykin and Nekoie stood outside Reiche Elementary School in the morning and greeted voters as they headed to the polls.

By 5 p.m., the line stretched just outside the gym. Nekoie and Falero, who are not competing for a seat but have very different platforms on homelessness and housing issues, stood outside the door shaking hands and talking to voters.

“It was very exciting. People smile. I just love it,” Nekoie said.

“I’m excited to see how it all turns out, with ranked choice voting you just never know,” Falero said.

This story will be updated.