TURNER – With several candidates running for the same positions and several write-in candidates announced, elections in Turner were not nearly as predictable as usual.
Even with light voter turnout Friday, according to Town Clerk Eva Leavitt, compiling the votes took time because of the write-in candidates who appeared for both the SAD 52 Board of Directors and the Budget Committee.
Four candidates for the two positions on the Board of Selectmen split votes but in the final count, which took more than two hours, incumbent Lori Fish and newcomer Lawrence “Punk” House took the seats by slim margins of 117 and 140, respectively. They ran against Al Barrett, who has served previously on the board as well as on the Budget Committee and the town’s Road Committee and garnered 73 votes, and newcomer Jeff Killian who got 32.
For terms on the SAD 52 Board of Directors with three candidates for two three-year terms and no listed candidate for a two-year term, the final numbers were as follows: Elizabeth Briggs Bullard received the highest total at 134 followed closely by Maryann Gondeck Leonard with 125. Peter Ricker tallied at 107. The two-year term with no announced candidate was taken by newcomer Josh Morris with 25 write-in votes followed by Ricker at 10 and Leonard at 9.
For three, three-year terms on the Budget Committee, with two listed candidates and one announced write-in candidate, the results were as follows: Al Gondeck received 177 votes and Robert Levesque Jr. received 161 as listed candidates. Announced write-in candidate Rod Shaw took the third term with 21 votes. He was followed by write-in candidates Harry Ricker at 15 and Bernice Gilbert at 8.
For the remaining one-year term on the committee, with no announced candidate, write-in Gilbert took the spot with 36 votes.
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