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By Diana Bowley of the news staff - DOVER-FOXCROFT - The town of Greenville has asked a judge to determine if the last municipal election was valid since the polling place was closed an hour earlier than is customary. Town officials were not aware that Maine law stipulates that warrants must list the hours when the polls open and close. While the Greenville municipal warrant listed the opening hour for the polls, it did not provide a closing time. "What we're asking the court to do is rule on the validity of the last election," Town Attorney Eric Stumpfel said Tuesday. His complaint for declaratory judgment, filed late last month in Piscataquis County Superior Court in Dover-Foxcroft, lists Dan McLaughlin, Alan McBrierty, Bruce Hanson and Arno Ficthner as defendants in the case since they were candidates for the two seats on the Board of Selectmen. McBrierty was re-elected to his seat, and McLaughlin won by one vote over Hanson. It was Hanson who questioned the legality of the elections because of the irregularity in the polling hours. He said two residents told him they tried to vote between 7 and 8 p.m. June 7 but could not because the doors to the municipal office were locked. The polls closed at 7 rather than 8 that night because the annual town meeting was completed in one night. Stumpfel said Tuesday that none of the candidates, including Hanson, had filed an election challenge but that the town felt it had an obligation to ask the court if the election was valid. Selectmen agreed after the town meeting that there was a defect in the voting process and voted to take the matter to court. They capped legal expenses at $1,500. Municipal elections are held the day after the annual town meeting on the first Tuesday in June. Past practice has been for town officials to close the polls at 7 p.m. if the town meeting continued for a second night, according to Town Manager John Simko. This allowed the clerks to attend the meeting and announce the results. If the meeting finished in one evening, the polls typically remained open until 8 p.m., he said. This year, business was finished in one night, but town officials decided to close the polls at 7 the next evening, Simko said after the annual town meeting. Had the closing hour of 7 p.m. Tuesday been included in the town meeting warrant, closing the polls at 7 p.m. would have been OK, Simko said. Selectmen had the option of standing by the certified election results and taking no action, leaving any appeal up to Hanson, but decided that they needed to clarify the "clouded" issue. The court can dismiss the complaint or rule on whether the vote was valid or invalid, according to Stumpfel. If the vote is found invalid, the court will need to determine if a new election should be conducted for just the selectman's race or for all municipal offices on the June ballot, he said. |