Select Board Calls Special Election, After All

HARWICH – After considerable uncertainty in recent weeks, the select board voted Monday to call a special election for Tuesday, April 9 to fill the seat on the board vacated by Mary Anderson.

Nomination papers for the unexpired term will become available on Dec. 26, Town Clerk Emily Mitchell said. The candidate elected on April 9 — provided that someone runs — will serve approximately six weeks until the annual town election is held. The election is expected to cost taxpayers around $20,000.

Anderson resigned on Oct. 25, and the select board opted to leave her seat vacant until the May 21 annual town election, when her term was set to end. Resident Patrick Otton circulated a petition that sought to force the board to reverse course, holding a special election no later than Jan. 23. But Mitchell advised against holding any election before April 9 to avoid conflicts with the March 5 presidential primary election.

In light of that, Otton reversed course earlier this month and said he no longer favored having a special election, since the successful candidate would only serve six weeks. He urged all 242 signatories to his petition to contact the town and officially withdraw their support, but it was not clear whether such an action would be practical or legally sufficient to nullify the petition. So this week, Otton reversed his reversal, urging the board to go ahead with the special election.

“It is desperately needed,” he told the board Monday.

Mitchell presented the board with three scheduling options: calling the election for April 9, the earliest date that does not interfere with the logistics of the presidential primary; not calling a special election at all; or scheduling one for Monday, May 20, the day before the annual town election. While a candidate elected in this scenario would only serve one day before having to run again, the town would save much of the expense of holding two separate elections.

At this week’s board meeting, Chair Julie Kavanagh said she favors April 9.

“I think it makes the most sense,” she said. “At this point, pushing it out to the day before the [annual] election represents the same issues we would have, in terms of logistics.” There is also the risk that some people would vote on May 20 but forget to return to the polls the following day.

“I just think it causes confusion,” Kavanagh said. She said board member Michael MacAskill, who was not present at this week’s meeting, told her he felt the same way and both favor the April 9 date.

“The ship has sailed on pretty much anything else,” board member Donald Howell said. “And I’d prefer to have an election, as opposed to not having an election.”

Board member Jeffrey Handler agreed, and with three members present, the board unanimously set the special election date for April 9.

Some questions remain, Mitchell noted.

“I know we have discussed potentially shortening [polling] hours or opting out of vote-by-mail. I think that’s something we can decide in a few weeks after we release nomination papers, and we’ve seen if folks return them, or how many folks return them,” she said. “But we don’t need to decide anything this evening.”