CONWAY — For the first time in decades Town Clerk Virginia Knowlton won’t be on the annual town election ballot.

Knowlton has decided not to seek re-election after four decades on the job.

“I figured 40 years is enough,” she said recently with a light laugh. “Now it’s time.”

She started the job in 1979. Knowlton said she will respectfully decline if someone nominates her at the annual town caucus.

“The position was empty, and since I had been in fifth-grade, I had been fascinated with (the job),” she previously said. “I had fifth-grade classes in Town Hall, and Violet Parker (the first woman to hold the position) was town clerk, and I used to drive her crazy asking her questions about her job, and she would always answer.”

In 2016, a ballot question to turn the town clerk job to an appointed position was rejected.

Knowlton expects someone will nominate Sheila M. Harrington, who ran unsuccessfully for the position in 2016, at the town caucus. Knowlton said Harrington has visited her at work a few times to learn about what the job entails.

The first opportunity to get onto the 2019 town election ballot is approaching, as the annual town caucus to make nominations for town offices is set for the beginning of next month.

The caucus is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. on March 4 in Conway Town Hall.

Knowlton explained the nomination process starts with a voter suggesting someone for a particular office. If that nomination is seconded, everyone present casts ballots and the nominated person is placed onto the ballot for the May 16 election, if he or she receives at least 8 percent of ballots. She said she believes people can nominate themselves, if they wish.

Knowlton said the top two vote earners can be placed the ballot for a particular office, as long as they get 8 percent of the ballots present. The quorum is 25 voters. Knowlton said people can still get onto the ballot after the caucus, if they take out and submit nomination papers, which are unavailable until after the caucus.

Town Administrator Tom Hutcheson said anyone nominated at the caucus gets his or her name higher on the election ballot. He said all the offices are non-partisan.

Reach DomenicPoli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.