NEWRY — It’s now official, and by the correct method this time.
Wendy Hanscom and Gary Wight were re-elected at Tuesday’s polls to Board of Selectmen seats by respective votes of 74 and 118. Candidate Doug Webster, who ran against Hanscom, got 62 votes, Administrator Loretta Powers said.
In 2012, Newry changed the way it votes for town officials by adopting the secret ballot method. But, for the past two years at town meetings in March, they didn’t vote that way.
To prevent any potential issues, the town’s attorney advised the board on March 18 that the two selectmen and SAD 44 school board members Bonnie Largess and Deb Webster, who were elected in 2013 and 2014, should resign.
Hanscom and Wight resigned on May 8 and accepted their own resignations. Largess and Webster were reappointed by selectmen to finish their terms until March 2015.
Tuesday’s election was to fill Hanscom’s three-year term from March 2014 and Wight’s remaining two years from his election in March 2013.
“We had 137 voters turn out, which is big for us for the primaries,” Powers said. “Last year, I think it was, like, 48 voters.”
Newry has 250 registered voters, she said.
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