Two Contested Races in Today's Election

Town officials are asking registered voters to choose both a selectman and school committee member, among others, at the Annual Town Elections, held today at the Andover High School Collins Field House.

The polls will open at the field house at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Andover Patch will have the results posted as soon as they are ready.

Voters are faced with two contested races in the 2011 Annual Town Election. They include a three-way race for a two-year selectman seat and a two-way race for a three-year school committee seat. To find out more about candidates check out their video profiles:

Town Clerk Lawrence Murphy said that local elections typically have a lower turnout than the elections in November but said he had no clear indicators of the general interest for this election.

“I can tell you that historically local elections tend to be on the slow side,” said Murphy.

But Murphy did say that the amount of absentee ballots for this election was much lower than the November elections.

Murphy said that roughly 65 to 70 absentee ballots have been requested for this election. That can be compared to roughly 1,100 absentee ballots requested for the November elections, which had a 70 percent turnout of registered voters in Andover.

However, Murphy did say that absentee ballots aren't always a true indicator of voter turnout.

Here are all of the candidates, both contested and unopposed, for the 2011 Annual Town Election: