DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board has called a special election to fill its vacant seat left by former member Joseph Diver after delaying the decision on a citizen's petition.

 

Diver announced that he would be stepping down from his seat effective Oct. 1 during a meeting at the beginning of September. 

 

The board has been discussing whether to hold a special election since October but was hesitant because of cost, proximity to the presidential election, and confusion regarding state law procedures.  

 

The decision no longer became one the board could make following a citizen petition led by Robert Collins, which garnered 237 signatures from residents calling for a special election. The petition had 223 certified signatures. 

 

During a meeting at the beginning of November, board members delayed the decision to call a special election until the town confirmed that proper legal procedures were followed.

 

"I talked to our town lawyer and he said he was satisfied with everything in place, and we could go ahead and proceed with it. So, that made me satisfied," Chair Robert Bishop said. 

 

The special election to complete the last months of Diver's three-year term will take place on Monday, Feb. 3, at the Senior Center. Residents running for the vacant seat can pull papers at the town clerk's office between Tuesday, Nov.26, and Dec. 24. 

 

Interested candidates are required to submit their papers, which need at least 20 signatures, by Dec. 24. 

 

The anticipated cost of this special election is about $3,800, not including mail-in ballots, Town Clerk Heather Hunt said. 

 

Collins expressed regret that the board did not call a special election sooner, as this would have made the required funds more worthwhile.

 

The board knew in September that Diver would step down, leaving about eight months to the annual town election in May. Because of the delay, the vacant seat will now only need to be filled for about three months. 

 

Collins has expressed his intention to run for the vacant seat and has previously run for the board. 

 

Hunt said that although mail-in ballots are not required for a special election, the board makes that decision. The board will revisit whether to have mail-in ballots at a future meeting. 

 

A complication surrounding mail-in ballots is that residents will have to reapply for them because the applications voters completed for standard elections expire on Dec. 31. The town would have to navigate how voters can apply for a mail-ballot, Hunt said. 

 

The cost for mail-in ballots is about $1.02 per ballot, she said. 

 

"I think when we talked last week, the consensus was, if it was an uncontested race, then mail-in ballots would not be necessary. So, that's your choice," Hunt said. 

 

The town typically only gets a few hundred mail-in ballot requests for a local election, she said in a follow-up.