ROCKPORT, Maine — Linda Greenlaw said she has never seen anything like it in her 20 years as town clerk.
Seventeen people will be on a special Aug. 2 election to fill a vacant seat on the Five-Town Community School District and School Administrative District 28 boards.
And most of those people may be unaware they are candidates.
This odd scenario developed when no one took out nomination papers to fill the seat being vacated by Gretchen Richards on the June 14 ballot. Richards did not seek re-election.
On election night, Brendan Riordan received seven write-in votes for the position, the most of anyone. Riordan declined it, however, because he had been seeking and was elected to the Select Board.
A person cannot serve on both the school board and Select Board, Greenlaw said.
One other person received two write-in votes, but that person was a teacher who could not also serve on the board.
There were 23 other people who also received write-in votes. Four people lived out of town and thus were disqualified, and two other people who were aware they had been written in on a ballot declined, Greenlaw said. That left 17 people.
The town clerk said she was advised not to contact each person but instead to place their names on the ballot. Each person not interested would have had to sign a document declining to be a candidate.
Candidates on the ballot will be Gordon Best, Owen Casas, Marcia Dietrich, Kathryn Foss, Peter Hall, Kimberly Haines, Eliza Haselton, Frances Hodgkins, Lowell Jones, Delano Keirstin, William Leone, Kathleen Meil, Geoffrey Parker, Jennifer Roper, Lorraine Ryan, Elizabeth Saltonstall and Mary Smith.
Casas and Parker are members of the Select Board. Meil is the Democratic candidate for the local Maine House seat. Dietrich is already on the school board.
The town charter requires an election within 60 days when there is a vacancy. The ballots have to be printed and there needs to be time for absentee voting so the Select Board set Tuesday, Aug. 2 for the special election. Polls will be open at the town office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Greenlaw said most of the candidates may be unaware they will be on the ballot.