Municipal officials to ask governor to call special election for House District 24 vacancy

Officials at a Bangor City workshop agreed to ask the governor to call a special election to fill the vacancy in House District 24 after Representative Joe Perry was elected state treasurer, a speaker said.

"As many of you know, on Dec. 4, the legislature had elected Representative Joe Perry to serve as state treasurer," Speaker 2 said, adding that under state statute municipal officials must request that the governor start the special-election process to fill the vacant House seat. "Unless there's an objection, we will go ahead and ask the governor to start the process to kick off a special election to fill that vacancy," Speaker 2 said.

The officials discussed timing, with Speaker 2 indicating that the election would "typically" be scheduled in March, though participants also acknowledged garbled or uncertain date details in the record. Speakers confirmed the special-election ballot would contain only the contest for House District 24 and nothing else for voters restricted to that district.

Several participants stressed the importance of filling the seat. Speaker 2 noted that it was effectively a full two-year term and said it was important for constituents to be represented in Augusta during the upcoming biennial budget process. "It's...essentially a full two-year term," Speaker 4 said, noting the administrative work involved and saying the municipality needed to fill the vacancy.

Speakers raised procedural questions about how parties would nominate candidates. Speaker 3 asked whether each major party must provide a candidate and whether caucuses in the four towns would be held separately or together, noting that separate caucuses could produce multiple candidates. Speaker 2 said election specifics were outside the municipality's bailiwick and that the officials did not have detailed answers about caucus logistics or costs.

Speaker 3 also offered a local population observation, saying "Only about a hundred people," a remark that was not further detailed or verified in the workshop.

With no formal objection recorded, workshop participants agreed to move forward and ask the governor to initiate the special-election process. The group did not record a formal vote on that direction during the meeting. The workshop then adjourned.