Wakefield Special Election In 2 Weeks

WAKEFIELD, MA — There is two weeks until the special election to fill the vacant Town Council seat of Peter May.

Voters will head to the polls Feb. 22 to decide between former Town Councilor Paul DiNocco and Mike McLane. Patch has sent out questionnaires to both candidates and will inform readers about them in the coming days.

The candidates will be seeking the seat left vacant by the passing of Peter May.

Town Council opted to leave the seat vacant until the April election, voting against the special election in November.

The argument was that it wasn't worth the trouble of getting someone for less than two months. A special election can cost the city between $15,000-$20,000. Some were concerned with confusing voters and granting someone the power of the incumbency heading into April.

"There's many facets to it, to include the schools, money and the length of time and the procedure that it takes for someone from the time they pulls papers until they actually have the election," Town Clerk Betsy Sheeran said at the time.

But a petition gathered enough signatures to trigger the election anyways.

May died in October after a battle with ALS. He was in his second term on the council, having joined in 2016 and winning re-election in 2019.