Natick will fill its empty Select Board seat via special election. Here's what to know

NATICK — The Select Board has opted to hold a special election in September to fill a vacancy among its ranks, after former member Karen Adelman-Foster resigned earlier this month to join Senate President Karen Spilka’s office.

The four remaining board members unanimously approved a proposal on Wednesday to host a special election on Sept. 13. A preliminary election, if more than two candidates take out papers for the seat, will be held Aug. 16.

The special election winner will serve out the remainder of Adelman-Foster’s term, which is set to expire on March 31, 2023.

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The Select Board had two options for filling the seat: schedule a special election, or wait until the town’s 2023 annual election. The board would have been required to schedule the special election if at least 200 registered voters signed a petition to do so.

Because the town’s charter sets a specific time frame for elections, the earliest possible dates would have been in July, as Town Clerk Diane Packer told the board. She suspected voter turnout would be low then, due to summer vacations.

Select Board members were similarly hesitant to call a summer election.

“It’s just one of those unwritten rules that you don’t do something when you’re presuming that people are away,” said Select Board Vice Chair Michael Hickey.

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Massachusetts has its state primary and state election scheduled for Sept. 6 and Nov. 8, respectively, and while the Select Board seat couldn’t go on those ballots, it would be possible to run a town special election concurrently, Packer said.

However, doing so would result in a complicated process with multiple voter check-ins, she added.

“From a labor perspective … it is not easy, and it is not straightforward or simple,” Packer said.

The cost of holding a special election is likely between $40,000 and $50,000, according to Packer.

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If the board had opted not to call a special election, Select Board Clerk Bruce Evans wondered about the possibility of 200 voters signing a petition and forcing an election anyway, this time with an even smaller planning window.

“It’s striking me as a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation,” he said.

Select Board Chair Paul Joseph spoke in favor of an election, suggesting the board give interested candidates the summer to make their pitch to voters and drum up awareness ahead of election day.

“On a personal note, I'm more of a believer that we should have an election, and my bias is to really provide opportunities for members of the community that want to participate in our process,” Joseph said.

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Natick has seen low turnout in its most recent town elections. Only 13.7% of registered voters turned out to vote on March 29, a slight improvement from the 13.4% turnout in the 2021 annual election and 10.8% in 2020.

When it comes to turnout for special elections, Packer said there was decent turnout years ago, when the town held a special election in December for a ballot question on trash disposal fees.

“But I’m not sure — I don't mean any disrespect — that a seat on the board which will then be up again in March is going to hold that kind of an appeal,” she said.

Abby Patkin is a multimedia journalist for the Daily News. Follow Abby on Twitter @AMPatkin. She can be reached at apatkin@wickedlocal.com.

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Natick MA special election: Select Board vacancy to be filled Sept. 13