Woodbury BOS Election Questions/Answers

I've been hearing and reading questions concerning specifics about the Board of Selectman (BOS) election in Woodbury and hope the following helps to clear things up for some folks. Attached is a close up of the BOS portion of the ballot with petitioning candidates Party affiliation noted with a red R or D.

The BOS in Woodbury is comprised of the First Selectman (FS) and two Selectman. Minority representation laws dictate that the Board can not be comprised solely of one Party.

In Woodbury, for this election cycle, we see two candidates for FS, Stomski and Butterly. You can only vote for one. Both candidates are registered as Republicans (R). The candidate that receives the most votes will take the FS seat. The other candidate will automatically enter the Selectman race but does not automatically take a seat. They only take a seat as Selectman if they receive enough votes.

In Woodbury, for this election cycle, we see four candidates for Selectman. Perkinson-R, Barry-D, Overton-D and Arras-R. You can only vote for one even though there are two Selectman seats.

With two FS candidates of the same Party running while four Selectman run Woodbury could see an interesting twist in the vote. In contrast to the FS race the Selectman race is fairly diluted. It's possible for Stomski and Butterly to each receive enough votes to take a seat on the BOS. This while Perkinson or Arras could potentially receive more votes than any of the other Selectman candidates but Perkinson or Arras would not be eligible to take a seat on the BOS due to “Minority (Party) Representation” Laws. With two R's on the Board a D would need to take a seat so while Barry or Overton could actually receive fewer votes than either (or both) Republican Selectman candidates the D with more votes will take the seat.

This BOS vote could result in a myriad of combinations that include R,R,D or R,D,D. Remember too, in a General Election such as this you may vote for whomever you want, any combination of R's or D's you do not have to vote with any one Party whether you're affiliated or not. Remember also: Just One First Selectman candidate and One Selectman candidate.

Lastly, the question has been asked “What if a person elected chooses to not take the position they were elected to?” This has been expanded on to ask about other potentialities of a vacancy on the BOS due to moving, death, illness etc. Woodbury Charter and State Election Laws essentially dictate that in the case of a vacancy in the FS position that a Selectman would be required to temporarily take the position until a special election is held. There are time frames and other mandated details to this process and they are available to read in the State Statutes for those that desire more knowledge on the subject. In the case of a Selectman vacancy a special election would also need to take place and in both cases minority representation laws would still need to be adhered to.

Any other process questions? Ask in the Comments and I, along with the other Patch posters, will try to answer.