FREEPORT – The polls will be open Wednesday, March 20, from 7:30 a.m. -8 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Freeport Town Hall for a special election to fill the District 2 Town Council seat.

Voting is restricted to residents in the District 2 area, the largest in town, which covers the eastern border and northern border of Freeport.

Candidates Sarah Bradley Tracy, a lawyer for the Maine Public Utilities Commission, and Joyce Clarkson-Veilleux, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, both have strong Freeport roots and cite the need to keep costs low in the face of budget cuts at the state level.

The election was prompted by the resignation of Kate Arno, who left the council in January after taking a job with the Center for Public Broadcasting in Washington, D.C.

The District 2 seat accounts for the fourth change in the council since last October.

Shortly before the November election, former council Vice Chairwoman Sara Gideon, now state representative in House District 106, resigned from the council after moving out of District 1. David S. Gleeson Jr. was elected to fill Gideon’s seat.

Then in the November election, former council Chairman Jim Cassida lost his bid for re-election to first-time Councilor Andrew Wellen, and former Councilor Charlotte Bishop decided not to seek re-election and was replaced by Councilor Melanie Sachs.

The new addition to the council will bring the number of its members to seven again.

The winner of the special election will serve until November 2014.