Selectmen’s election may be challenged in court

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    SANGERVILLE — The reelection of Sangerville Selectman Melissa Randall by a one-vote margin at the annual town meeting may be challenged in Superior Court by her opponent, Irving McNaughton.
    While some residents have asked the Board of Selectmen to order a recount or a new election based on alleged irregularities at the town meeting, an attorney with the Maine Municipal Association said it couldn’t be done.

    In an email to Town Manager David Pearson, Richard P. Flewelling, the assistant director of the MMA’s legal service department, wrote that “there is no legal recount procedure available in this case, and (2) the selectmen have no legal authority to reverse the results or order a new election. The only available legal remedy here is for the challenger to bring suit in Superior Court.”
    One of the major sticking points is the requirement that candidates receive a clear majority of the votes cast.
    At the March 29 annual town meeting, there were 70 votes cast but three names were written on the wrong type of paper. So those were not included in the final count which showed Randall with 34 votes and McNaughton with 33.
    McNaughton, who is on vacation in Florida, told the Observer that he has contacted an attorney to see what his options are. “It’s my belief and many others in town that all ballots should have been counted, even the ones that were spoiled,” McNaughton said. “So if she (Randall) didn’t get a majority plus one vote (36), she shouldn’t have been elected.”
    McNaughton said that it was his understanding that a Superior Court justice can issue a declaratory judgment or order a trial in certain cases. “This is all new to me, so I’m just going to wait until I hear back from my lawyer,” he said.
    The controversy over Randall’s election attracted a full house at the April 8 selectmen’s meeting which usually draws only 10 to 15 people.
    Tom Carone, who was reelected chairman of the board at last week’s meeting, started the session by urging everyone to be civil during the public forum session. “We’re all residents and we’re all neighbors,” Carone said. “We have concerns; and possibly, we have different ways of expressing those concerns.”
    For the most part, attendees heeded Carone’s advice except for some testy exchanges between some who felt the town meeting ballots were not handled properly during the voting procedure and two of the ballot clerks, Jerry Peters and Virginia “Dinny” Wark.
    Carone and Town Manager David Pearson started the session by reading a series of emails between town officials and MMA. Carone noted that one of the recommendations from the MMA attorney was “that this not be put on the agenda tonight.” (See sidebar)
    But Selectman Bill Rowe said that he urged that the item be discussed openly “because it is an issue in town.”
    Carone said that one problem with the annual town meeting was that “nothing was set up for the rules to go by. And when you don’t have rules to go by, everything turns into a mess. And that’s what happened here.”
    He also cited the discrepancies between the Maine Moderator’s Manual and Robert’s Rules of Order, some of which deal with ballot challenges and recounts.
    Diane Boretos told selectmen that they were making “a very serious mistake discussing this issue. You have been legally advised by the attorney from MMA to not even put this on the agenda. Your discussion this evening could wind up in court. And it will be us (residents) paying for an attorney to represent you.”
    When the issue of whether the ballot box was tampered with came up, Peters said that neither he nor any of the other two clerks “reached into the ballot box. I don’t like that sort of stuff sorting around … I don’t think there’s any reason to question anyone’s integrity.”
    Wark said that “there would have been no way for someone to reach into the ballot box … I couldn’t figure out how anyone in this town could say that.”
    Cynthia Hall said that she was surprised that since the vote was so close “that a recount didn’t happen right then and there. And it could have happened if we had followed the proper procedure.”
    Hall said that based on the legal advice from MMA, the board should “pass over” the agenda item that called for further discussion of an election challenge.
    They did – unanimously.
    In other items brought up at the April 8 meeting, Pearson updated the board on the purchase of the Well’s property next to the town’s recreation field. Voters approved an article to purchase the vacant home at the annual town meeting for up to $17,000 to allow expansion of the ball fields. Pearson said that he hopes that the closing can be completed by June 2.