POLAND – When a majority vote fails, democracy scrambles.

On Sept. 29, exactly 111 days after voters approved the creation of a new town charter by a 2-to-1 margin, voters will be back for a crash course in local politics.

Their job: To do it all over again.

At 8 a.m., they’ll meet for a special town meeting to create a charter commission. About an hour later, they’ll be asked to vote on six commission candidates. And that night, selectmen may choose to add the once-and-future charter to the November ballot.

The reason is a long list of state rules.

When voters approved the charter on June 10, they were too few.

The final tally was 346 yes and 183 no, fewer than 600 people in a town of nearly 5,000. The turnout fell below the state-mandated threshold set by the last election for governor.

Without at least 30 percent of the total voters from the November 2006 vote, the state won’t allow a charter to be approved, even with a majority vote.

The town needed to start over. Town Manager Dana Lee hatched a plan.

“It seemed that people really wanted this,” he said. “They deserve another chance.”

With the knowledge that the next big-turnout election would be in November, he researched the calendar. Sept. 29 proved the only date possible. Any earlier and the new charter commission would be formed illegally. Any longer and the deadline for getting on the November ballot would pass.

“We know it’s going to be a long day,” Lee said. “We’re trying to do this as simply as possible. This really is pro forma.”

It’s not a done deal, though.

Thursday is the deadline for filing papers on candidacy to the charter commission. On Wednesday, five of the six former members had returned their papers, Town Clerk Judith Akers said.

Nine people had taken out the forms, she said. New candidates could force changes and any changes would alter the delicate timetable.

The charter is aimed to add structure to the way the town already does business, Lee said. Changes common for town charters, such as changing the form of government to eliminate town meetings or to create a town council, were not part of this agreement.

The June charter proposal sets a deadline for the budget to be completed, clarifies many jobs in the town office and creates safeguards against conflicts of interest and nepotism.

The special town meeting will be preceded by another five days earlier.

That one is meant to correct a mistake made at the annual town meeting last spring.

When voters approved the school budget, they gave their approval to warrant items that combined some budgets. State law changed this year, outlawing the combining of budget items.

“It was my fault,” Lee said. “We didn’t realize that each individual line needed a vote.”