Burlington Write-In Candidate Challenges Status Quo

BURLINGTON, MA -- Write-in candidates in local elections always face long odds, and for Kim Milne, those odds were extra long in Saturday's Burlington election. Milne announced her candidacy for Burlington School Committee less than 24 hours before voters headed to the polls in a town where voters need to write-in both the name and address of a write-in candidate for the vote to count. So the fact that Milne collected 260 votes to eventual winner and incumbent Martha Simon's 1,276 votes is impressive.

But Milne, who moved to Burlington in 2015 and has been active with the PTO and coaching youth sports, suspects she knows why she was able to get so many votes on such short notice.

"I really appreciate all of the people that showed up and voted for me with 24 hours notice. I think it speaks to the need for change," she said Sunday morning.

Simon and the other members of the school committee have largely adopted a position to move forward and not discipline staff after a string of recent reviews reviewed lax financial oversight. That, coupled with the abrupt resignation of the district's special education director and the poorer-than-expected results on state standardized tests, have had some parents questioning the status quo of the district's administration.

Simon told Wicked Local Burlington that she did not learn about Milne's run until 10:30 am on election day. "I was surprised, but not nervous. I know lot of people support the things I have accomplished," said Simon, who was the only candidate listed on the ballot.

Milne isn't hiding the fact that she will likely run again next year, and next year she will pull nomination papers so her name can appear on the ballot. She said the nine hours she spent in front of polling places Saturday gave her a chance to meet Burlington voters "who will be voting NEXT year," when Chairman Thomas Murphy and Christine M. Monaco will be up for reelection.

"The people who I had the wonderful opportunity to meet yesterday also had the opportunity to meet me.

I have learned first hand, the demographic group of voters in a non-presidential election year," she said. "Instead of watching the school committee meetings on TV I will be in the audience with other parents. I will get to know them, their wants, needs and concerns."

More: Complete Burlington Election Results

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Photo by Kim Milne.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).