ROCKLAND, Maine — The Rockland City Council and Owls Head Board of Selectmen have asked the state to hold a special election to fill the vacancy created when Democratic Rep. Elizabeth Dickerson of Rockland announced she was resigning.
But the state has yet to received a signed resignation letter from Dickerson as of Wednesday afternoon and the process is on hold, according to Kristen Schulze Muszynski, communications director for the secretary of state. Gov. Paul LePage can call a special election at the request of the communities in the House district as soon as Dickerson’s letter is received.
Dickerson moved to Colorado for personal and professional reasons a month after being sworn into a second term. She posted a photo on social media earlier this week of her holding up the letter she was mailing to the secretary of state.
The City Council voted unanimously Wednesday night to ask for the election. Owls Head selectmen approved the same request Tuesday.
Even without a formal resignation, the House District 93 seat has attracted a sixth candidate.
Shawn Levasseur of Rockland, a Libertarian activist, announced Wednesday he would run for the seat.
He joins five other Rockland residents in the race: Republican James Kalloch and Democrats Pinny “Anne” Beebe Center, a former county commissioner; Steve Roberts, Regional School Unit 13 board chairman; Carol Bachofner, RSU 13 board member; and Ralph Newbert, a former RSU 13 special education director.
The Green Party also has announced it is working to recruit a candidate.
Levasseur is vice president of Electrotech Inc., a family-owned manufacturing company in Rockland. He also serves on the Knox County budget committee. He ran unsuccessfully for the Maine House to represent Rockland in 1998 and 2000.
Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has said it typically takes 45 to 90 days to hold an election when a resignation is received.
The political parties will nominate their candidates at caucuses — meetings of registered voters of the two communities. Unenrolled candidates can circulate nomination papers once an election is called and will have to file them with the secretary of state’s office by a deadline that would be detailed when the governor calls for an election.