LEWISTON – If Helen Poulin wants to represent Lewiston on the Androscoggin County Commission, she ought to live in Lewiston, Democratic and Republican leaders said Tuesday.

“It seems pretty easy to me,” said Walter Hill, chairman of the Lewiston Democratic Committee. “You have to live in your district.”

Poulin ought to resign, he said.

Last month, Poulin moved from her house on Ferry Road in Lewiston to a new home on Auburn’s Vickery Road.

Poulin, serving the second year of a four-year term as Lewiston’s representative to the commission, said she plans to continue serving.

“It doesn’t change a thing,” she said last week. “It only matters if I run for re-election.”

That’s not certain.

The state Elections Bureau is consulting with the Maine Attorney General’s Office over the issue, said Don Cookson, spokesman for the Maine Secretary of State’s office.

The law seems explicit as far as it goes, he said

“Members of each board of commissioners must be residents of the commissioner districts which they represent and shall be elected by the voters of that district,” according to Maine law.

In simple language, the passage seems to establish a residency requirement, Cookson said. But it seems murkier on how to enforce the law.

The attorney general’s office has the authority to decide whether it can or should force anyone from county office, Cookson said.

“It seems like a pretty unique circumstance,” he said.

People from both major parties said Tuesday that the Democratic commissioner ought to resign.

“She definitely shouldn’t be serving,” said state Rep. Scott Lansley, county chairman of the Republican party.

Lansley, who represents Sabattus and Greene in the Maine Legislature, said he would expect to resign if he moved out of his district.

If he didn’t, his colleagues in Augusta would likely remove him, he said.

“I’d expect to get my butt kicked out,” he said.

Residency is important, Hill said.

The Lewiston Democrat argued that without such a rule, the County Commission might be made up of three commissioners who live in a single town.

Hill’s office has contacted the elections bureau for direction on what to do next. If Poulin were to leave office, another Lewiston Democrat would likely be tapped as a candidate for a gubernatorial appointment.

On Wednesday afternoon, when the three-member commission gathers for its regularly scheduled meeting, Poulin will be allowed to vote just as she has before, Chairman Elmer Berry said.

“She’s a good commissioner,” Berry said. “She represents Lewiston well.”