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Townsend Select Board schedules Oct. 6 special election to fill two new seats
Summary
The Townsend Select Board voted unanimously June 2 to hold a special election on Oct. 6 to fill two newly created select board seats, after discussing public feedback, clerk staffing and estimated costs of roughly $3,000 for the election day.
The Townsend Select Board voted Wednesday to schedule a special election on Oct. 6 to fill two newly created five-member select board seats.
Sarah Logan moved to schedule the additional election for the two new board seats on Oct. 6; Laura Shiffren seconded and the motion passed on a roll-call vote with all members present voting yes. "I, Sarah Logan, move to schedule the additional election for the two new board seats for October 6th," Logan said during the meeting.
Board members said they had solicited informal resident feedback and that many people prefer not to hold elections in mid-summer. The town clerk’s office estimated the incremental cost of running a special election on that date — including polling machinery, ballots and election workers — would be in the roughly $3,000 range for the day. Board members also discussed whether to tie the special election to other state election dates and the clerk’s staffing needs to run concurrent or additional elections.
The board agreed the exact ballot wording and terms for the new seats will be supplied by the town council and that the clerk will provide nomination paper dates to the board at its next meeting. The motion as passed was subject to council-provided language on terms.
Next steps: the clerk’s office will publish the exact calendar for candidates and the select board will add related agenda items at an upcoming meeting to finalize logistics and ballot language.
