Voters took to the polls on Tuesday to elect city and town leaders across the state and make their voices heard on issues affecting their local communities.
In many races, voters faced unprecedented choices or made first-in-city-history choices, such as in Framingham, where the community elected its first mayor since becoming a city in April, and in Newton, where voters elected their first female mayor.
That makes for at least three cities where women were elected or reelected to lead.
In Lynn, state Senator Thomas M. McGee unseated two-term Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy, a victory that will force a special election to replace McGee in the Legislature.
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In the state’s capital, Mayor Martin J. Walsh defeated Councilor Tito Jackson by more than 30 percentage points, and voters elected a City Council that, come January, will have more women and councilors of color than ever.
Here are five other interesting elections and votes that occurred throughout the commonwealth on Tuesday:
1. In Worcester, the state’s second largest city, Mayor Joseph M. Petty was reelected for his fourth term, beating rival Konstantina B. Lukes.
Lukes, a city councilor and a former mayor of the city, has lost against Petty in three of the last four municipal elections, according to the Telegram & Gazette.
According to unofficial numbers posted on the city’s website, Petty came away with about 71 percent of the vote, amounting to 11,105 votes.
The unique thing — at least for those accustomed to Boston politics? Petty is also an at-large city councilor, and he came in first place in that race, winning his 11th term.
Lukes also won her race for at-large city councilor and will serve her 15th term.
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2. Voters in Lowell made their voices heard over a controversial fight to rebuild Lowell High School in one of two locations.
In a non-binding referendum, 7,254 people — of 11,892 voters — voted in favor of renovating and rebuilding the school downtown, instead of building a new school at Cawley Stadium in the city’s historic Belvidere neighborhood or not rebuilding the school at all, the Lowell Sun reported.
The issue also largely influenced the City Council race, in which the majority of candidates elected support the downtown school proposal, the Sun reported.
The City Council voted, 5-4, in June during a nearly six-hour meeting to move the high school to the Belvidere location. They submitted their plan to the Massachusetts School Building Authority, but the authority’s vote was ultimately delayed.
3. After 24 years of office in Leominster, Mayor Dean Mazzarella was nearly unseated by a write-in candidate who garnered just 167 fewer votes.
Mazzarella received 4,527 votes, and write-in candidate Kenny Ricker got 4,360, the Sentinel & Enterprise reported.
Because Ricker was a write-in candidate, officials have to check every ballot to determine the final number of votes.
4. In Amesbury, residents voted down a ballot question that would have banned “non-medical marijuana establishments, which includes non-medical retailers, but excludes marijuana cultivators, independent testing laboratories, and product manufacturers.”
According to unofficial totals posted on the city’s website, 2,046 people voted against the ban, and 1,133 voted in favor. Sixty-one people kept their ballot blank. It was the only ballot question posted to the city.
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5. Lynn wasn’t the only city where a special election was forced from Tuesday’s votes.
In Attleboro, state Representative Paul Heroux defeated seven-term incumbent Mayor Kevin Dumas, which will force a special election to fill his seat in the state House.
Heroux won 11 of the city’s 12 precincts, according to the Sun Chronicle.
Dumas, who was the youngest person to be elected Attleboro mayor and has the second-longest tenure, lost by 760 votes, the Sun Chronicle reported.
Felicia Gans can be reached at felicia.gans@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @FeliciaGans.