27 May, 2011
Assistant Town Clerk Deborah Holbrook announced her resignation today in a letter addressed to the Town Clerk, Town Manager and the Board of Selectmen.
To the Town Clerk, Town Manager, and Board of Selectmen,
I hereby resign as Assistant Town Clerk, due to the Clerk’s refusal to honor the will of the voters expressed in the Annual Town Election.
As you know, I ran that election when the Clerk was prohibited from doing so due to her personal interest in the outcome. Acting as Clerk for the election, reporting the results was my responsibility, and “results” per Massachusetts election laws M.G.L. Ch. 50 § 2, includes determination of the effect of a tie.
Following the tie for the Board of Library Trustees, I examined the election laws and determined that although no one could be elected to one of the 3-year seats, the tied candidates (Leda Arakelian and June Harris) should be awarded the two 2-year seats. This is due to a statute which says in the event of a tie, “persons receiving the same number of votes shall not be deemed to be elected if thereby a greater number would be elected than are to be chosen.” Looking at the 3-year seat, neither Arakelian nor Harris could be seated. However, nothing in the statute requires that those candidate be disqualified, which is exactly what the Clerk has done.
With no justification and without regard for the prohibition against her running the election, the Clerk has taken this decision from me and disqualified the two tied candidates. She says she is simply following the advice of Town counsel Ray Miyares. I have repeatedly asked counsel how he can interpret the statute to disqualify the tied candidates, and his response has simply been that he would explain if the Clerk asked, and the Clerk has refused to ask. Counsel has relied on the statute quoted above to eliminate both one 3-year seat and one 2-year seat, but has refused to answer when I have pressed for an explanation of how his comparison of those two positions could be based on a statute which applies only if there are more candidates than seats.
When I first brought my interpretation to the attention of Town counsel and the town clerk, it was positively received, with an attorney in Miyares’s office calling it the “most equitable” outcome – barring any “prohibitive language.” Since Miyares became involved again, however, he has rejected this interpretation without giving any reason it was prohibited or indeed any support whatsoever for his odd recommendation that two candidates with over 1000 votes each are not elected and one with only slightly more than 100 votes is. I attempted to confer with the Massachusetts Elections Division, but was informed that they had provided their reasoning to Miyares and I should get it from him. Again, he refused to provide it. If I was wrong, so be it, but I never received any reason why this scenario is wrong, other than counsel’s say-so. Then, the Town Clerk blindly adopted that recommendation.
I believe that this interpretation is based not on the law but on emotion. Miyares has been upset with me ever since I confronted him about his advice to the Clerk just after the election that she should recount the ballots, on her own with no supervision and no request from a candidate, and then keep the results “under her hat.” As Miyares has since admitted, such actions would have violated elections laws. (I have expressed my concern about this advice to both the Clerk and the Town Human Resources department.)
Since the election I have expended great efforts to try and come to a reasonable, fair conclusion to the tie vote in the race for the Board of Library Trustees. I have repeatedly asked the Clerk and counsel to justify their decision. I have, however, been unsuccessful in convincing the Town that the interpretation these two have taken is not the most fair or even a rational approach, that it does a great disservice to the voters, and that it does not uphold the highest ethical standards that are expected from us as employees of the Town of Hopkinton.
Ever since I became aware of the problem created by the tie vote on May 17th, I have struggled with how this was being handled. I tried to convince others that all the candidates, not just the two who had tied votes, had a right to know that there was an issue and of the ability to file a petition for a recount. Notice was not given until Tuesday, May 23rd, a week after the election results were announced and only 72 hours before the filing deadline. This was very troubling to me. I was placed in charge of the election, which I was proud to do, but was misinformed as to what my ultimate responsibility and role was until after we discovered the tie vote.
I take great pride in providing the Town of Hopkinton the utmost dedication, professionalism and highest ethical standards, and I wholeheartedly feel that the Clerk’s decision on the election goes against everything we as town employees are expected to do and everything our Charter stands for. I would have rejected town counsel’s unsupported recommendation if I had been allowed to report the election results as I should have.
We had 1744 town voters show up on one very inclement day, May 16, 2011, to exercise their fundamental right to vote, to speak their choice by a ballot. Leda Arakelian and June Harris both received the votes of 1013 of those voters – that is, almost 60% of the voters who cast their ballots voted for these two candidates. The Clerk’s decision entirely disregards those votes, without any value, and that is wrong. By this decision, we are telling those candidates who worked so hard for a well-deserved seat that they are not entitled to one because of the way two people interpret the ballot. We are trying to bring more residents to town meetings and town elections, and we are trying to sign up more residents to volunteer on our many boards and committees, but I ask how this is to happen when democracy is handled this way?
So with a very heavy heart and no other job in sight, I hereby resign from my position of Assistant Town Clerk of Hopkinton. This is a matter of principle, fairness to the voters, and the ethical standards of which I work by and always will. I cannot remain in this position while the Town Clerk disregards the will of the majority of our voters.
Sincerely,
Deborah A. P. Holbrook
6 Rice St
Hopkinton MA 01847
508-435-3116
