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Board of Selectmen considers dates for upcoming special election

Date: 6/21/2010

June 21, 2010.

By Debbie Gardner

Assistant Managing Editor

WILBRAHAM -- Town Clerk Beverly Litchfield was called upon to provide specifics regarding the scheduling of a special election during the June 21 Board of Selectmen's meeting.

The special election is necessitated by the tie vote between incumbent Selectman David Barry and challenger Robert Boilard revealed during a recount of the May 22 Town Election vote.

"I just gave them some more information [as to] what an election calendar would look like for different dates," Litchfield told Reminder Publications. "They were looking for information about running the election with the state primaries on Sept. 14."

She said she also gave the board Sept. 25, Oct. 16 and Oct. 23 as alternative dates for the runoff vote.

Litchfield said she advised against combining the special election with the state primaries for several reasons including the need to hire more poll workers to handle additional registration tables -- voters would need to register twice, once for the state election and again for the town election, the cost -- which would approach $13,000 for a combined election as opposed to $5,000 to run the special election on another date, and the potential for a confused electorate, which could result in a lower voter turnout.

"At a primary you only qualify [to vote] if you are an unenrolled (independent) voter, a registered Democrat, a Republican or a Libertarian. Any other affiliation can't vote," Litchfield said. "If [voters] don't meet the primary qualifications I'd hate to have them stay home thinking they can't vote in the special election."

She said the Selectmen were gathering information about the various election scenarios in order to determine what was "best for the candidates and the voters ... it was going to come down to what was best for the community."

The Board of Selectmen is expected to complete their discussions and make a decision on the date of the special election at their June 28 meeting.