Grafton Town Clerk sidelined for November election
Grafton is entering the homestretch of the 2020 election season without the official most trained for the task: its town clerk.
Assistant Town Clerk Paul Cook, who joined the town just a year ago, has stepped into Town Clerk Kandy Lavallee’s role over the past few weeks due to Lavallee’s unplanned medical leave. She is not expected to return until after the November election, Temporary Town Administrator Carter Terenzini told the Select Board Tuesday.
“She is on leave, but she does maintain control of the office,” he said.
Vote-by-mail ballots arrived in Grafton homes last week and the big red ballot box in front of the Municipal Center filled up over the long weekend. Voter turnout, by mail or in person, is expected to be high with a presidential race on the ballot.
Not included in that first round of ballots: Lydia Bogar’s. The election worker received two ballots in the mail and was concerned about how they should be handled.
“I can’t imagine I’m the only person out of how many ballots went out who had this issue,” she said.
Bogar was advised to hand-deliver both ballots to Cook — one with her selections filled out, the other unmarked.
She also expressed concern about the safety of the red ballot box, suggesting it be moved to the front of the police station instead, and asked if police officers will be present during in-person early voting, which runs October 17-30.
“Most of us poll workers are nice little old ladies,” she said. “If some guy comes in with an attitude, we’re not equipped to handle it.”
Meanwhile, an audit of the June town election in which 202 ballots went astray remains undone, although Terenzini spoke to Lauren Goldberg, of the firm KP Law, who was contracted to conduct it.
“She had not been able to connect to the clerk due to her current leave time,” he said. He expects to receive a draft report from Goldberg by Friday.
Cook is receiving some assistance from former town clerks and election workers and seems “reasonably prepared,” Terenzini said.
