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Early voting has begun for Standish residents. Residents can vote on Election Day, June 9, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the fire department vehicle bays at the Standish Municipal Center. A sample ballot is available on the town’s website.

TOWN COUNCIL, PLANNING BOARD AND BUDGET COMMITTEE

Three of the seven Standish Town Council seats are up for election. Joseph Paul and Susan Brawn are running for the Area 2 seat, Robert Deakin and Brian Libby are running for Area 4, and Benjamin Marci and Robert McFerren are facing off for an at-large seat.

Standish has three open seats on its seven-person planning board, but only one is contested. Philip Pomerleau and Isabel Higgins are vying for the Area 1 seat. Frank Nappi is the only candidate for the at-large seat and no candidates filed papers for the Area 3 seat.

All Town Council and planning board seats are for three-year terms.

Two seats are open on the town budget committee and each have one unopposed candidate. Heidi Watson is running for a spot with a three-year term and Christopher Finley is running for a spot with a two-year term.

TOWN BUDGET

The ballot will include a series of questions on if the town may borrow money for various capital costs outlined in the Town Council’s proposed $27.9 million budget. Voters will decide if the town should borrow up to $378,000 to purchase equipment for the public safety department, $105,000 for maintenance to the town’s general administration, $38,000 for parks and recreation, $315,000 for public works and $1.14 million for pavement of town roads.

The final question concerns whether the town should borrow $1.48 million to join 20 other surrounding municipalities, including neighboring Buxton and Gorham, in becoming an owner member of ecomaine, a nonprofit company that handles the town’s trash and recycling.

Other articles in the budget will be voted on by residents at the annual town meeting on June 13. The town manager’s proposed budget is available online and the meeting agenda will be available on the town’s website on May 28.

SCHOOL BOARD

Standish voters have the opportunity to vote for four open seats on the Maine School Administrative District 6 School Board. The race for the Buxton resident seat is between Cynthia Meserve, who is vying for a second term, and William Hall. The Limington resident race is between Howard Allen and Dara Crawford.

Current board member John Sargent is the only candidate for the Standish resident seat and voters will have the option to write in a name for the Frye Island resident seat.

All MASD 6 school board seats have three-year terms.

SCHOOL BUDGET

Voters will decide whether to approve the $73 million budget for MASD 6 that passed at the school board meeting on April 6, a 6% increase from this fiscal year’s $68.9 million budget. If passed, the new budget would raise Standish taxes by 3.03%.

The ballot also asks if voters approve MASD 6 to borrow $554,575 through Maine’s zero interest rate School Revolving Renovation Fund Program to fund indoor air quality renovations at George E. Jack School, and if the district may borrow up to $8.2 million for district-wide repairs and renovations.

STATE PRIMARIES

Registered Democrats will vote in the U.S. Senate primary, where Graham Platner is highly likely to be named the nominee to oppose Sen. Susan Collins in November. Both parties will rank their choices for governor.

Republicans Joshua Pietrowicz of New Gloucester and Ron Russell of Kennebunkport will face off in the primary to take on incumbent Chellie Pingree for the District 1 U.S. Representative seat. Pingree, of North Haven, is not facing a Democratic primary challenger. 

The Maine Senate District 22 seat primaries are uncontested, with Nathan Burnett as the only Democratic candidate and current District 85 State Legislator Kimberly Pomerleau as the only Republican candidate.

The primary for Maine District 84 is uncontested. The incumbent candidate, Republican Mark Walker, will by challenged by Democratic candidate Cassandra Dove in November. In Maine District 85, Adrienne Paul and Timothy P. Nickels will face off to be the Republican candidate and Paul Harris Welch is the sole Democratic candidate.

Editor’s note: This story was updated on June 4 to correct the date of the Standish municipal budget vote. Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story gave the incorrect date for the vote. The town will vote on the budget during the annual town meeting on Saturday, June 13.