Have you ever given it thought to run for public office? Would you like to volunteer your time to assist the Town of Winchester? Do you have experience and talents that can benefit the Town? Well if so, here are a few important things you need to know in order to be considered.
1) You must be a registered voter at your Winchester address 2) You must come into Town Hall prior to the deadline on February 7, 2020 to register as an official candidate for public office; you cannot send in a friend or family member we need your signature! 3) You must circulate a nomination petition with 50 signatures of voters in Winchester who sign to support your candidacy 4) Return your papers to the Town Clerk’s Office for approval 5) Decide if you will establish a Candidate Committee to promote your election campaign 6) Get out the vote!
Effective January 2, 2019 the nomination papers for the March 31st Annual Town Election are available in the Office of the Town Clerk.
The following offices will be on the ballot this year: Moderator for 1-year term; one member for the Select Board for 3-year term; two members for the Planning Board for 3 year terms; one member for the School Committee for 3 year term; one member for the Housing Authority for 5-year term; one member for the Board of Assessors for a 3 year term; one member for the Board of Health for a 3 year term; two members of the Board of Library Trustees for 3-year terms.
In addition, in each of the Town’s eight precincts, eight 3-year town meeting member terms will be on the ballot. (For a total of 64 town meeting seats) Precincts and also have vacancies in office due to resignations that occurred throughout the year. Precinct 2 has (1) one year term; Precinct 5 has (1) one year term; Precinct 6 (1) 1 year term and Precinct 7 has (1) two year term.
Signatures of fifty registered voters are required for nomination to town-wide office; ten signatures from the candidate’s precinct are needed for town meeting. Incumbent town meeting members are not required to obtain signatures, and have been notified by the Town Clerk to return the letter that was mailed to their attention on December 19, 2019 with their signature indicating if they would like to appear on the ballot or not.
The last day to take out nomination papers for any office is 5:00 PM Friday, February 7, 2020. Signed nomination papers must be submitted for certification no later than 5PM Tuesday, February 11, 2020.
If you are interested to run for office or if you are interested to see who may be running please contact the Town Clerk’s Office at 781-721-7130 or email us at townclerk@winchester.us if you have questions.