With more than half of eligible voters in Lisbon turning out for Tuesday’s off-year election, voters put four new councilors in office, unseating the only incumbent, Jo-Jean Keller.

Roger Bickford, Charles Turgeon and Gregory Garnett were all elected to three-year terms. Dale Crafts, who was previously elected to the Legislature and was elected to his first Town Council slate, won a two-year term.

Vote counts for candidates vying for the three, three-year seats were: Turgeon 1,953; Garnett 1,648; Bickford 1,620; Eric Metivier 1,540; and Jo-Jean Keller 1,324.

There were 2,061 blank ballots.

Vote counts for the one, two-year seat were: Crafts 1,528; Diana Rolfe 891; Jean Elizabeth Burkhardt 511; and Joseph Costa 184.

There were 272 blank ballots.

Bickford, Garnett, Crafts and Metivier ran on a platform together advocating to help revert Lisbon’s form of local government from a town council to a town meeting.

Metivier was the only one in that slate not elected.

With a town council, councilors make almost all the major decisions, including developing and adopting the town budget. With a town meeting, residents meet and vote on the town budget.

Some voters at Tuesday’s election supported reverting back to town meetings, while others needed more time to think about it. But the majority of voters approved developing a charter commission that will look into matters such as revering back to town meetings.

The push comes from a town budget shortfall due to a $1.3 million accounting error in last year’s budget, driving property taxes up by as much as 18.6%. Many residents were outraged about the oversight.

Current councilors have taken heat for not looking closely enough at last year’s budget.

Town Manager Glenn Michalowski submitted his notice of resignation in mid-October and has taken a job as the interim town manager of Raymond. 

Residents have been upset with the staggering increase in property tax bills this year and many of the candidates talked about making further cuts to the town budget, if elected, to reduce tax bills more.

At a candidates forum last month Crafts said the council needs to “cut, cut, cut” spending until “it really hurts.”

Earlier this year Crafts’ Renew the American Dream PAC sent mailers to residents advocating for them to vote down the school budget, which passed Tuesday after failing twice before.

In another vote, Arthur McLean, who ran unopposed, was elected to a three-year term on the Water Commission with 2,311 votes. There were 1,071 blank ballots.