Stray ballot to count, judge rules

“This is the first time for a tie vote and the first time for a ballot being misplaced,’’ board member Christine Dietz said after hearing Town Clerk Ann Click’s explanation of how she discov ered the unopened envelope while wrapping up materials from the May 16 election. “It’s a fluke, just a fluke.’’

“This is a first,’’ added a fellow registrar, Joyce Brousseau. “I am optimistic it will be resolved.’’

Timing is crucial, according to the town counsel, Raymond Miyares, since the Board of Selectmen already has publicly posted the two vacancies left on the library board after the failed election, and is expected to make a decision at its next meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

“I suggested we’d like to open the ballot before Tuesday, since Tuesday is the day scheduled to make the appointments to fill the vacancies. If there is not going to be a vacancy, we would like to know before Tuesday,’’ Miyares said.

The ballot may not resolve the issue, since it is possible the voter chose both of the candidates who were tied, or neither of them, in the election for several openings on the library board.

“I recognize there is a possibility this will not undo the failure to elect, but it is our best shot and that is why we took it,’’ Miyares said.

Failure to elect is what the state terms a tie vote, under its election laws.

The ballot for last month’s election included four candidates for five seats on the new board of trustees for the Hopkinton Public Library, which until last year had been privately owned. The circa 1895 stone building across Main Street from Town Hall has been donated to the town, which hopes to win a state library construction grant this summer to cover half the cost of a planned $10 million expansion that would quadruple the building’s size.

The election was intended to seat the top five vote-getters with staggered terms — three years for the top two, two years for the next two, and one year for the fifth-place finisher.