TOPSHAM
Two incumbents were reelected to the Board of Selectmen Tuesday in a three-way race for two seats.
Ruth Lyons drew the most votes, 2,054 and Dave Douglass won 1,462 votes, according to the unofficial tally. The third candidate, John Graham got 943 votes. He also ran against incumbents for a seat on the board last November and was defeated. There were 1,605 blank ballots.
With many voters casting ballots in Topsham Tuesday were drawn to the polls for the state questions, Lyons thanked residents for supporting her. She noted that many people gave her hugs at the polls, and said she misses the daily contact with residents that she had while working many years as the town clerk. Lyons said it is hard to get residents involved and to know what they want sometimes, but she will keeping working on their behalf.
Douglass said he believes he pulled ahead of Graham at the polls because he was not running with a single-issue agenda. He looks forward to helping the town continue to building its financial stability and planning for the future, he said, for which the town is well-positioned.
A big challenge awaiting the town, Douglass said, is how it will proceed now with its regulation of recreational marijuana now that Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed a bill proposing how to regulate the tax and sale of recreational marijuana. Marijuana was legalized through a citizen’s initiative that passed in Maine a year ago.
The race for four Topsham seats on the School Administrative District 75 Board of Directors was uncontested, and all four candidates were incumbents seeking re-election. Jane Scease received 1,872 votes, Andrea Imrie got 1,834 votes, Matthew Drewette-Card received 1,716 votes and Jeffrey Wolkens got 1,671 votes. There were 5,035 blank ballots.
dmoore@timesrecord.com
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