PERU – Voters trickled in at the Rockemeka Grange Hall on Monday to cast ballots on a 61-article town warrant. Polls opened at 9 a.m. and by 6:30 p.m., approximately 75 people had voted.

Peru has 1,160 registered voters; 145 people sent in absentee ballots. Because of the warrant’s length, people had been encouraged to vote absentee. Chairs were in some booths to give people who found it difficult to stand.

Town Clerk Vera Parent said it was a very slow day. She described the turnout as fairly typical.

“Forty people or so come out to town meetings, but 150 to 200 come out to vote on officers,” she said.

This year, there were no contested positions. Norman Deroche Jr. was seeking re-election and was unopposed. Patricia Hunt was the only candidate for SAD 21 director.

New resident Rick Childs said, “This is my first time to vote, and I liked this process. There were too many articles for one time, but it was good. Hopefully it will encourage more people to vote.”

David and Janet Magoon both liked it. “I love the vote this way,” he said.

Douglas McMichael said he liked open town meetings, though he hadn’t come to one for a while. Others said they could go either way, voting at an open town meeting or in the voting booth.

Polls closed at 8 p.m., and Parent says she had no idea of how late the counting would go.