ADDISON COUNTY — Candidates for local offices such as selectboard, school board and town moderator face a deadline for submitting petitions to their local town clerks. And those who wish to run for a school board position in the Middlebury area have a higher bar to clear in terms of signatures than in the past.
Those running for any town or school office have until the end of the business day on Monday, Jan. 30, to file their petition papers. Petitioners must gather 5 percent of the checklist, or 30 signatures — whichever is fewer — for a town office.
But those running for a spot on the unified school board for the Addison Central School District  should make sure to double-check the signature requirement. People running for a post in the ACSD must gather at least 60 signatures — a number that is larger because all of the board’s seats are elected at-large by voters from all seven of the ACSD-member towns.
That means candidates can gather signatures from registered voters in any of the seven ACSD towns: Bridport, Weybridge, Shoreham, Cornwall, Salisbury, Ripton and Middlebury.
The unified school boards representing Addison Northwest, Addison Northeast and Otter Valley Unified Union apportion directors by town, so the lower number of signatures requirement prevails there.