Registered voters who are residents of the Town of Middleburg will cast ballots on May 1, 2018, at Town Hall, 10 West Marshall Street, in what has become the most highly contested Town election in living memory.

Where once it was difficult to find anyone willing to sacrifice the time and energy to run and serve, on May 1 voters will choose from three candidates for Mayor: Vincent Bataoel, Bridge Littleton, Mark Snyder.

Seven candidates for four open seats on Town Council: Kevin Hazard, Cindy Pearson, Peter Leonard-Morgan, Darlene Kirk, Mimi Stein, Kristin Noggle, Chris Bernard.

Campaigning ahead of the May 1 vote has been active, highly visible, and, in the words of one resident, "commendably civil."

For the first time in living memory intense local advertising, websites and social media pages, yard signs, door-to-door campaigning, and candidates openly banding together and promoting each other in "slates" have appeared.

All three candidates for Mayor and all seven candidates for Town Council also participated, for the first time, in an open-to-the-public "candidates forum" held before a standing-room-only crowd on April 11 at the Middleburg Community Center. The proceedings were streamed live on the web and recorded. Voters interested in seeing the candidates and hearing what they had to say about key issues facing the town may watch the forum online at MBECC.COM. Click on the link marked: UPDATED MEET THE CANDIDATES NIGHTS VIDEO.

The new Mayor and Council will also be the first to have their regular meetings videoed and streamed, making proceedings instantaneously available to every citizen and Middleburg stakeholder with access to the web.