Hopkinton Registrars Unanimously OK Court Request

The Hopkinton Board of Registrars held a brief emergency meeting in the Town Clerk's office Monday night following an unusual find that may have an effect on a three-week-old library trustees election.

Despite receiving more votes than other trustee candidates, two candidates were not seated because they had a tie vote.

Last week, Town Clerk Ann Click was cataloging absentee ballots from the May 16 election. The ballots are kept in hanging file folders, according to precinct, in a blue, plastic storage container.

The container, which has a translucent top, is similar to but smaller than typical household storage containers.

Click had asked Liz Shur from the Assessor's office to be with her as she handled the ballots. 

Monday night, Click demonstrated to registrars Joyce Brousseau and Christine Dietz how she found the absentee ballot stuck to the outside of one of the folders. Further investigation showed that the vote was not recorded.

Click contacted Town Manager Norman Khumalo, Town Counsel Ray Miyares and the state Elections Commission.

After consultation among those parties, Click decided that the best course of action was to petition state court to allow the unopened ballot to be counted.

Click's petition also asks the court to expedite its decision. Click said she will send the petition to the court first thing Tuesday (this) morning.

If the court OK's counting the ballot, the Board of Registrars will have to be present when the ballot is opened.

Hopkinton Republican Chairman Ken Wesimantel, who stopped by the registrars' meeting on his way to a Planning Board meeting, said he found himself in a funny spot.

"I want one Republican candidate not to get a vote," he said.

Hopkinton town elections are partisan, and the tied candidates are both Republicans. If one gets a vote and the other doesn't, both will be seated.

Click said despite the difficulty of the election, she is confident in the outcome.

"I feel we have a system backing us up all the way," she said.

The tied candidates, Leda Arakelian, a Patch contributor, and June Harris, declined to ask for a recount by the legal deadline.

The Background

Arakelian and Harris each received 1,013 of 1,744 (so far) votes. Residents were allowed to vote for five library trustees.

All five library trustees seats were open because the previous board dissolved itself after selling the library to the town for a nominal sum. That sale made a library-expansion proposal eligible for significant state aid.

Their tie for second place left neither Arakelian nor Harris the winner of one available three-year seat. The top vote-getter was Marie Eldridge, who took the other three-year seat.

The vote went as follows - top two, three-year seats; next two, two-year seats; fifth place, one-year seat.

After the tie, Town Counsel Miyares consulted with the state, and advised Click that she could seat only Eldridge, or also seat Michael McNamara and John Belger, the fourth- and fifth-place candidates, who were not part of the tie.

Rather than have only one library trustee, McNamara and Belger, both of whom had fewer votes than Arakelian and Harris, were sworn in.

That decision caused assistant Town Clerk Deborah Holbrook to resign. Holbrook, who ran the election because a ballot question concerned Click's job, said it was inappropriate for Click to step into the library trustees resolution. 

In her letter of resignation, Holbrook said she was excluded from the decision-making process. She also disagreed with the state's and Town Counsel Miyare's interpretation of election law.  The law, Holbrook says, prevents more people from being elected than there are seats available.

Five candidates, five seats, Holbrook says.

Selectmen have posted the two trustees jobs in Town Hall. At their June 14 meeting, selectmen can appoint library trustees to fill the vacant seats for one year.

That solution has caused worry among different parties - particularly Selectwoman Michelle Gates and Weismantel - of a chilling effect on voters and candidates for town office.

At the May 31 selectmen's meeting, Weismantel, as GOP town chairman, asked if one of his candidates would be allowed to step down and the other take the three-year term.

Miyares said he would take that question to the state, but no public decision is yet available.