TOWNSEND — A special election originally scheduled next month to fill two brand new Select Board seats has been postponed to December after one candidate was included on the ballot under two separate seats.
At the annual town election earlier this year Townsend voters passed Question 1, which expanded the Select Board from three seats to five. This triggered a special election to fill those seats, with one starting with a term expiring in April 2028, and the other starting with a term to expire one year later.
The election was set for Oct. 6, but questions arose after the ballots were printed with former Select Board member Cindy King appearing as a candidate under both races. Vincent Kazanjian is running as well for the shorter term seat, while James Gates is on the ballot for the longer term expiring in 2029.
After an emergency court order the election will now be on Dec. 8 with a new deadline set for candidates to withdraw from either race by Nov. 5.
“Candidate Cindy Marie King has already submitted a letter to the Town Clerk to withdraw from the race to fill the Select Board vacancy ending in April 2029,” said Town Clerk Harrison Mayotte in a statement Thursday. “If no further withdrawals are received, the modified ballot will list one candidate, James Joseph Gates, to fill the Select Board vacancy ending in April 2029, and will list two candidates, Vincent R. Kazanjian and Cindy Marie King, to fill the Select Board vacancy ending in April 2028.”
Mayotte said voters who received an early ballot for the election in the mail already can recycle it or return it to his office, while any further early ballot submissions will be rejected.
“A modified ballot will be mailed out to all voters who requested Vote by Mail in November,” said Mayotte. “A small number of voters have already returned the original Early Ballot. Those ballots are being securely retained while the Town Clerk’s Office awaits further guidance regarding their treatment.”
Before the issue went before a Middlesex Superior Court judge it was discussed during emergency meetings of the Townsend Select Board and the Board of Registrars.
During the Board of Registrars meeting Tuesday, King apologized for the role she played in the situation.
“I really didn’t mean for this all to happen. I didn’t realize all the legal stuff was out there. … Secondly I’m hoping at tonight’s Select Board meeting it can all be resolved in the best way it can be for the town,” said King.
King said she wanted “to be completely fair to the other candidates.”
“I don’t want to win or lose this unfairly, and I don’t want the other candidates to be impacted unfairly and I don’t want the voters to feel that something was amiss or that the votes could not possibly be counted fairly because of all this controversy,” said King, before suggesting that the election should be postponed and signaling her intention to withdraw from the election against Gates.
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