Lanesborough Short A Candidate For Mount Greylock School Committee
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — As hundreds of voters are currently making their way in for early voting or waiting until Tuesday, they are finding a blank spot on the ballot.
There is only one candidate as Lanesborough's representation on the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee but two seats are up for election. Richard Cohen announced his resignation in April but stayed on until the election.
Tuesday's election will determine who fills out the rest of his term, until 2018, but no candidates emerged. The winner of the seat will now be determined by write-in votes.
Sheila Hebert is on the ballot to continue in her seat, the term of which expires this year.
Town Clerk Ruth Knysh said one person had asked about the seat, but that was after nomination papers were due. She said she is unaware of anybody mounting a write-in campaign, but whoever has the most write-ins will win. Knysh expects there to be some write-ins for the seat.
In Williamstown, only incumbents are seeking re-election. Both Gary Fuls and Steven Miller are on the ballot but are not being challenged for their seats. The lack of a candidate in Lanesborough leaves what could be a hole in the committee.
It isn't very clear how that seat will be determined should no write-in candidate want the job - though typical vacancies are filled by appointment from a joint meeting of the Boards of Selectmen from each town.
This is not the first time Lanesborough has had a shortage of candidates. Just last year nobody took out papers to fill two seats on the Elementary School Committee. That led to write-ins for PJ Pannesco and Hebert.
Hebert filled out the term of Robert Barton, who had resigned from that committee. That term ended this Spring and Danielle Taylor won the seat being vacated by Hebert.
The election is somewhat unique in that the local Regional School Committee members are elected biannually during the state election - per the regional agreement.
