Indications are that the second and final vote on Freeport’s withdrawal from Regional School Unit 5 is likely to coincide with next year’s gubernatorial election.

Dick Spencer, a lawyer who has advised several school units on the withdrawal process, told the RSU 5 school board on Dec. 18 that more than half the number of Freeport residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election is needed for the withdrawal vote to be valid. Spencer, who works for Drummond Woodsum of Portland, told the board that Monmouth and Belfast both failed in their withdrawal bids because they could not reach that threshold.

Freeport drew 27 percent of its registered voters on Dec. 17 as the town voted, 953-768, to explore withdrawal from the RSU. Though Town Clerk Tracey Stevens said that number was heavy for an off-year election, it still doesn’t match the number needed to reach the state requirement. A total of 4,155 Freeport residents voted in the 2010 gubernatorial election.

Spencer said that the second withdrawal vote could occur as early as July, but that would put negotiations between Freeport and the RSU on a fast track.

“The withdrawal vote needs a major get-out-the-vote effort,” Spencer said. “Monmouth and Belfast have failed at that.”

Another time factor to watch: Should negotiations persist beyond next November, the chance of Freeport leaving the RSU are jeopardized. Step 20 in the 22-step statutory process dictates that any withdrawal vote held Jan. 1, 2015, or later would require a two-thirds majority.

Spencer also told the board on Wednesday night that the school board, and not the Town Council, will choose which school board member sits on the withdrawal committee that must now be formed. The Town Council will appoint the rest of the members: someone from the council, from the group Moving Freeport Forward and another Freeport resident.