FREEPORT — Town Councilor Rich DeGrandpre’s name will appear on the Nov. 8 municipal ballot after fellow councilors addressed concerns about two signatures on his nomination petition.

Councilors voted 3-1 Tuesday to invalidate the signatures of John Skillin and Paul Lowe based on the objections of Freeport residents Sandra and Peter Thompson.

The Thompsons claimed that Council Chairman Jim Cassida failed to witness the signatures when he was circulating a nomination petition for DeGrandpre, a three-term councilor. Councilor Eric Pandora filed an affidavit stating that the two men signed DeGrandpre’s petition in Cassida’s absence.

Councilors Charlotte Bishop, James Hendricks and Joe Migliaccio voted to invalidate the signatures; Sara Gideon opposed the action. Councilors DeGrandpre, Cassida and Pandora recused themselves from voting because of their involvement in the matter.

Without the two signatures, DeGrandpre still has enough signatures to meet the town’s ballot requirements.

Peggy McGehee, the Thompsons’ lawyer, argued that the two improper signatures invalidated the entire petition submitted by Cassida and it should be thrown out. Without Cassida’s petition, DeGrandpre wouldn’t have enough signatures to stay on the ballot.

The four councilors unanimously rejected the Thompsons’ objection that Town Clerk Beverly Curry failed to notarize DeGrandpre’s nomination papers when he turned them in. The clerk said it was a clerical oversight and has since notarized his papers.
 

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