BRISTOL — Bristol selectboard candidate Bill Mount may have fallen short in the vote count last week, but he had an experience on Town Meeting Day that made it all worth it.
On Tuesday, Darla Senecal defeated Mount, 763–487, for a two-year term on the board. The following morning, the Independent reached out to Mount for a post-election comment, but candidate and reporter were unable to connect until after deadline.
When the two finally caught up, by email, Mount said he didn’t have a comment.
But he did have a story.
“Yesterday, while I was waving on Main Street, a young lady came up to the intersection,” Mount wrote. “I said hello and I asked her if she was there to vote.”
The woman said no. She didn’t vote and hadn’t for more than 10 years.
“I asked her why, and we spoke for a while,” Mount explained.
He told her why he believed that voting mattered. He said that if she wanted to she could go across the street and register to vote right then and there. In the end, she thanked him and went on about her business.
But then, about 30 minutes later, Mount saw the woman exiting Holley Hall (Bristol’s polling place) with a “giant smile” on her face.
“She gave me a huge wave,” he said. “She had done it.”
For Mount, it was enough.
“That made my entire run worthwhile.”