By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

HARTFORD – Selectman Lee Holman attempted to call an emergency meeting Monday to address a series of problems with last week’s local election.

But no action was taken after it was decided the meeting was improper, she said Monday night.

Holman said in a telephone conversation that Selectman Laura Marston showed up for her meeting at the town hall, but said it shouldn’t go forward because there was no emergency. For that reason, the meeting wasn’t called to order and no votes were taken, Holman said.

That means a runoff election for the position of town clerk, which was scheduled for Tuesday, May 31, will be canceled.

“It was just simply allowed to die a natural death,” Holman said. She explained that while there was no vote to cancel the runoff, it can’t be held because the town can no longer meet the seven-day requirement to sign and post a warrant.

Holman had called the meeting to sign the warrant and also to discuss legal advice from Geoffrey Hole, the town attorney who had responded to a series of questions about mishaps at the May 17 election.

Hole was informed about problems that ranged from the absence of a lock on the ballot box to the absence of town clerk candidate Monica Mailly’s name from a handful of ballots that were cast May 17. He also was asked about the removal of 13 ballots from the ballot box before the close of the polls, as well as several other issues.

While some have requested a recount or a revote, Hole said in his judgment that “the selectmen do not have the power to order a revote; only a court can require it.”

He suggested a few routes the town could take to trigger court involvement, but advised, “Having worked on a number of similar situations, I can tell you that a court is going to be reluctant to overturn the results of the election unless something has happened that would change the outcome, or unless the voters had been misled in some way.”

Holman said this and other suggestions Hole made were discussed Monday, but many at the town hall felt strongly that Hole needed more time to respond to all the questions he’d been asked. She said she also learned she should have received an e-mail containing advice from Maine Municipal Association attorney Bill Livengood.

For now, Holman said, the town will take a step back and continue to research what might be done. More discussion on the May 17 election is likely at the next regular selectmen meeting, on June 2, she said.