Ballot mistake leads to special School Board election in Norwich

By PATRICK ADRIAN

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 04-07-2023 4:20 PM

NORWICH — Town officials have announced a special meeting on May 2 for voters to elect two school board members, races for which were inadvertently left off Town Meeting ballots last month.

Last week, the Norwich School Board authorized Town Clerk Lily Trajman — who is also a School Board member — to warn the special election, which will be conducted by Australian ballot.

Both races are uncontested, but state law still requires the candidates to be elected by voters.

Resident Michael Costa is running unopposed for a vacant three-year seat. The current seat-holder, School Board Chairman Tom Candon, is not seeking reelection.

In the second race, incumbent Lisa Christie is seeking reelection to a three-year term.

The election will be held May 2 at the Tracy Hall multipurpose room. The polls  will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Former Norwich Town Clerk Bonnie Munday — who retired last month after 30 years in office — took ownership of the omission, saying she did not realize when sending the ballot to print that the two school board races were missing.

“Ultimately, it falls on me,” Munday told the Valley News. “I made a mistake that went unnoticed almost to the day of the voting.”

Article continues after...

Yesterday's Most Read Articles

Tenants scramble for housing after West Lebanon building condemned
2024 eclipse expected to bring traffic jams to Vermont
Budget cut discussion on Hartford School Board agenda
Lebanon man sentenced to prison after threatening Hanover restaurant
Murder case against 14-year-old headed to juvenile court after prosecutor reverses course
Dartmouth student uses art to shift perceptions of addiction

The error was not caught until the town informational meeting to review the warrant on March 6, the evening before the annual Town Meeting.

Norwich combines its town and local school warnings on the same voter ballot, which resulted in a considerably lengthy document this year. In addition to the 11 municipal officer elections, there were 40 voter questions, 35 of which were municipal articles.

“Norwich’s ballots have been humongous since probably 1999 or 2000,” Munday said. “It’s kind of the reason why I came up with tabletop voting (in addition to) voting booths, especially for people who can’t stand that long to read it all.”

Until candidates are formally elected, the Norwich, Dresden and SAU school boards have postponed their organizational meetings to select officers for the new term. The Dresden and SAU school boards are joint bodies that include Norwich and Hanover board members to oversee shared costs of their interstate school district, SAU 70.

In the interim, the previously elected officers — Candon and Christie — have been asked to extend their time in office.

Candon, who had expected to be off the board by now, is continuing as chairman until the rescheduled organizational meeting on May 3.

“Tom has been a great board chair,” Superintendent Jay Badams said. “I’ve kidded him about how we’ve drafted him to continue on a little while longer.”

Munday, who is assisting Trajman in her transition to town clerk, also helped to set up the special election.

In accordance with state statute, the town has posted two announcements for the meeting, identifying the purpose, date and times and place of voting, outside Tracy Hall and at the Norwich Post Office.

Munday said she also had suggested that Trajman post the announcement at the town library and at Dan & Whit’s General Store.

Trajman was unavailable for comment on Friday.

Patrick Adrian may be reached at padrian@vnews.com or at 603-727-3216.

]]>