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Date: 4/25/2023
BELCHERTOWN — This year’s town election will take place on Monday, May 15, at the Belchertown High School gymnasium from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. with eight positions needing to be filled.
The only contested race is for School Committee. Heidi Gutekenst, Matthew Jackson and Lamikco Magee are the three candidates running for two available School Committee positions.
The openings for this year’s election also includes: two members for Board of Health, a member for the Select Board, a town moderator, a member for the Board of Assessors and one member for the Planning Board.
The town moderator, Board of Assessors and Planning Board position all have no names listed on the ballot. Town Clerk Terry Camerlin said this lack of participation is unexpected for Belchertown.
Camerlin said, “This is a little out of the norm. We usually don’t have this many blank offices on a ballot where no one has pulled nomination papers, so this is a little unusual.”
She added that there seems to be no reason for the lack of participation and no community members have expressed why either.
“I think it is getting more and more difficult to find community members who are willing to participate and get involved in politics. It’s becoming a little more prevalent even with our committees. We have several committees in town that we have trouble finding volunteers for those so it is kind of following that path unfortunately,” Camerlin said.
Those positions without a candidate can be filled by a write-in registered voter.
The candidates for other positions are Lesa Lessard Pearson for Select Board and Kenneth Elstein and David Gottsegen for the Board of Health.
Pearson ran against current Select Board member Peg Louraine for the vacant Select Board seat in October 2022.
Gutekenst and Elstein are running for reelection while Pearson, Jackson, Magee and Gottsegen are looking to add a new face to their respective committee or board.
All the positions terms are for three years besides the Planning Board, which is a five-year term.
The nomination papers were due to the Town Clerk’s office by April 12.
Early mail-in voting as well as early in-person voting will be available for this election. The deadline to request an early mail-in ballot or an absentee ballot is May 8.
Early in-person voting will be hosted at Town Hall in the Town Clerk’s office room 201.
The schedule for early in-person voting is May 3 through 5 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., May 8 and 9 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and May 10 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The last day to register to vote is April 28.
Those with questions can call the Town Clerk’s Office at 413-323-0281, ext. 340.