Voting began at 8 a.m. this morning at Duxbury Middle School as candidates manned their signs and braved the raindrops to encourage voters to choose them for a post in town government.

Town Clerk Nancy Oates said that her office issued over 100 absentee ballots for the election and that the rainy weather might even help citizens get to the polls.

“If it is too nice out, people forget to vote, so the rain might be a good thing,” she said.{sidebar id=4}

Voters taking to the polls early on Saturday felt that no matter the forecast, citizens would show up and cast their ballots.

“I would’ve voted either way,” said Laura Kensington of King Caesar Road. “There’s been such a surge of interest in my neighborhood to participate.”

Many voters who talked to the Clipper on Saturday said that it was the school committee race that drew them to DMS, including Cranberry Drive’s Lisa Mackin.

“This is our duty,” she said.  “We can’t complain later if we didn’t vote for who we wanted.”

Eric Johnson of Temple Street also said the school race brought him out to vote and with two kids in Duxbury schools has a vested interest in the outcome.

“There are four people in the race and I wanted to elect the two that I thought would be best for the job,” he said.

King Caesar Road’s Steve Bowen also said the school race was one he believes will get a lot of attention from voters.

“It’s important because the school budget needs some attention and we have some good candidates to choose from,” he said.

Besides the school committee race, when citizens get their ballot they will be selecting their choice for seats on the board of selectmen, board of assessors, town clerk, planning board, library trustees, housing authority and town moderator.  Only the moderator and one-year planning board races are uncontested, leaving seven other races to be decided.

Results from today’s contests will be unveiled after the polls close at 8 p.m. and will be posted on the Clipper website soon after.