By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

HARTFORD – About 20 residents who gathered for a runoff election Tuesday voted instead to postpone the race until June 24.

Only two people voted against the motion to hold off on immediately settling a 71-71 tie vote between town clerk candidates Lianne Bedard and Zoe Cowett, which was the result of a May 17 election.

A race for a newly vacated seat on the Hartford Board of Selectmen will be held June 24 as well.

Terry Hayes filled in for moderator David Kraske Tuesday, calling the meeting to order at 10 a.m. The meeting was closed by 10:08 a.m.

Judy Hamilton was the only resident to speak before the meeting was adjourned. Reading from a small slip of paper, she said she believed there had “been no malice of forethought with any of the various counts of irregularities that have been reported” following the May 17 elections.

She said a special meeting should be held before the pending elections so residents can discuss what the town should do in light of problems that occurred May 17. The problems included a ballot box being opened before the polls were closed and ballots being removed.

Several residents stayed after the meeting to continue discussing Hamilton’s suggestion and the town government in general. It was agreed the suggestion should be taken seriously, and Selectman Lee Holman said she would plan to be at the town hall for a regularly scheduled selectmen meeting at 7 p.m. on June 14.

Holman is the only selectman since Scott Swain resigned March 3 and Laura Marston resigned last Friday. She acknowledged she has heard calls for everything from hiring a town manager to voting in an entirely new board.

Resident Bob Calawa said Tuesday he believed personal differences between the town’s selectmen led to the problems at the polls. “When the group of selectmen started out, they were really doing quite a good job,” he said.

Ballot clerk Ruth Grimm, who was at the May 17 polls, said Tuesday she felt the election errors were honest mistakes and have been blown out of proportion. She urged everyone to move forward.

“We like Hartford the way it is. That’s why we live here,” she said, speaking against making drastic changes to the town’s government.

Holman said nomination papers for the two remaining years of Marston’s term will be available at the town office until 3 p.m. today and then during regular hours. The papers will be due June 14.