Boston Hopefuls Vie For Ousted Chuck Turner's Seat

Candidates hoping to fill the seat left vacant by the conviction of former Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner on corruption charges are facing their first major hurdle. Tuesday's preliminary election will narrow the field of six hopefuls to two.

Voter turnout was light Tuesday. As of 3 p.m., approximately 4 percent of registered voters cast ballots. There are 41,000 registered voters in the district, which covers parts of Roxbury, the Fenway, the South End and Dorchester.

Among those hoping to replace Turner is Tito Jackson, a former political director for Gov. Deval Patrick's re-election campaign. Also running is Cornell Mills, the son of former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, who was sentenced to three and half years in prison for accepting $23,000 in bribes.

E.M.T. Dennis Bynum braved the cold to cast his ballot.

"Hopefully we got somebody in there who's looking out for the community and will represent us well," Bynum said. "This is why we pay taxes, hopefully we'll get very good representation, which I'm pretty sure we will."

The two winners will face off in a final election on March 15.

Turner was convicted of taking a $1,000 bribe. He unsuccessfully sought to delay the Tuesday vote, claiming that he was improperly removed by his fellow councilors.

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.