DURHAM — No one is on the November ballot to fill a vacant seat on the five-member Board of Selectmen.
The seat has been empty since April, when Barry Baldwin resigned. When the deadline to get on the town ballot passed, no one had submitted their name, Town Clerk Shannon Plourde said.
The result will make for election night surprises, she said. And though a few people are rumored to be initiating write-in campaigns, there has been little said publicly, she said.
The result is that a single vote could elect someone to the seat.
“It really is sad,” Plourde said. “But they can choose whether to accept or not.”
When the polls close on Nov. 4, the ballots will be counted and the person with the most votes will be asked if they wish to be elected. If the person does not accept, an offer will be made to the person with the next most votes.
And though write-in votes are meticulous in other elections, spelling may not count this time. If the voter’s intent is clear on the ballot, the vote will count, Plourde said.
“If we know who it is, we’re going to count it,” she said.
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