Senate election next Tuesday

Absentee ballot deadline is tomorrow

Voters across the state will go to the polls 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19, to choose a new U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, to replace the late Edward Kennedy. In Paxton only, voters will pull two ballots and also choose a selectman.

The candidates for Kennedy’s seat are Scott Brown (R-Wrentham), Martha Coakley (D-Medford), and Joseph Kennedy of Dedham, a Libertarian running as an independent. The candidate Kennedy is not related to the former senator. Interim Sen. Paul Kirk, an appointee, is not running.

The winner of the Jan. 19 election would serve until January 2013, and could run for re-election to a six-year term at that time.

Registered voters who cannot make it to the polls on Election Day because of travel, physical disability or religious belief may take out an absentee ballot today or tomorrow. In Sterling, absentee ballots must be requested from the town clerk’s office before noon Friday, Jan. 15; in the other four Wachusett towns, they must be requested before 5 p.m. on Jan. 15.

Voters may vote in person when requesting the ballot, or may have the ballot mailed to their home. The ballot must be returned to the town clerk — not postmarked — by the time polling closes, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19. Town halls will be closed Monday, Jan. 18, to observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

2nd ballot in Paxton

Although the senate and selectman elections are run concurrently, voters in Paxton will fill out two separate one-race ballots, checking in and checking out twice. Because of the double election, the Paxton Center School polling place has temporarily moved from the community room to the gymnasium.

Absentee voting for selectman follows the same procedures as for senator.

For more information on the election, see the separate story on Page 1. For results on election night, visit thelandmark.com.