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Is it Your Turn to Run for Local Office
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To Run for Local Office
You have to be on the Middlesex voter checklist, and you’ll need 1% of the town’s legally qualified voters’ signatures on a petition for office. Signed petitions are due by the 6th Monday before Town Meeting Day (in late January). Contact the Town Clerk’s office for more information.
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Your town needs you. In every town, city, village, or other local unit of government, there are jobs that have to be filled by somebody—members of the planning commission, select board, listers, justices of the peace, among others. Who do you think the people are who hold these jobs?
They are residents, voters, taxpayers, who felt an urge to serve, and gave in to it. They are willing to contribute an evening or two a month to do something good for their town. They are seldom paid, and rarely celebrated for this effort. They are the most responsible Vermonters.
Some think it is a selfish motive that brings people to local office—some personal accommodation, some benefit to their business or friends. They are wrong. The same motive brings people into local office as the instinct to join the church choir or teach an adult how to read or volunteer to bring meals to seniors. It is something deep within each of us that shows a dedication to a better community. Service is the best of motives.
Most of us try to balance our other roles and responsibilities, but we see that we have a duty to do something. Let that something be public office.
Towns are usually looking for people to fill appointed offices. And there are few contests in local elective office. In many towns, incumbents are re-elected without challenge. That’s not particularly bad for a community, but still, in a democracy, there ought to be choices in elections. Don’t be put off from running for an office against an incumbent. Running and losing is no disgrace, and often a loss this year translates into a win next time.
Getting elected or appointed to an office isn’t hard. Deciding what office to seek and learning what is entailed are the first steps. Positions are listed in the Town Report, and many are described in these pages. For more information, contact the Town Clerk or the groups in our “Resources” listing. Let this booklet be your invitation to join with your friends and neighbors in getting involved in your town government.
Excerpted from “It’s YOUR Turn: A Call to Local Office” by the Vermont Institute for Government. (See Resources for Democracy)
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