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JERREY ROBERTS

Shutesbury Town Clerk Leslie Bracebridge, far left, explains the next steps after the vote on a new $3.5 million library ended in a tie Tuesday night at Shutesbury Town Hall.

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GORDON DANIELS

Library supporters gathered across the road from the Shutesbury Town Hall on Tuesday are from left, Arleen Read, Karen Traub, Laura Walton and Michele Sedor. The vote on the $3.5 million library proposal ended in a tie.

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GORDON DANIELS

Kelly Olanyk has his daughter, Aurora, place his ballot in the ballot box as poll worker David Dann, left, observes Tuesday in Shutesbury. The vote ended in a tie.

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GORDON DANIELS

Shutesbury Town Clerk Leslie Bracebridge, center, checks an absentee ballot during voting on the $3.5 million library proposal Tuesday morning. The vote ended in a tie.

SHUTESBURY - Over 1,000 Shutesbury residents turned out to the polls Tuesday, but even then they could not decide the contentious question over whether to build a new $3.5 million library. With 75 percent of Shutesbury's approximately 1,400 voters casting ballots, the vote ended in a 522-522 tie.

Leslie Bracebridge, Shutesbury town clerk, said she would wait to speak to the town's legal counsel this morning before announcing a resolution.

"A tie vote fails," Bracebridge said after announcing the results. "However, there are so many extenuating circumstances, the potential for a recount, the fact there were eight challenged ballots and one provisional ballot means there is no immediate result to the election."

A challenged ballot means that an individual at the polls disputes a voter's right to vote. Ballots were challenged by library supporters and opponents alike, Bracebridge said. Each side had election observers at the polls all day. The eight challenged ballots were among the 1,044 counted.

Bracebridge said her understanding is that the local Board of Registrars would make a ruling on the challenged ballots if there is a recount.

The one provisional ballot, which was given to a voter who produced a Connecticut identification card, was not among the counted votes. In the coming days, town officials and counsel will determine if that ballot will be counted, Bracebridge said.

A small crowd made up of supporters and opponents tensely awaited the results at Town Hall, talking quietly as vote counters tallied the total. When the results finally were announced shortly after 9 p.m., Bracebridge first looked at the final tally, then shook her head in disbelief before announcing the vote had ended in a tie. Small murmurs of surprise spread throughout the room.

Bracebridge then left the room to place a call to state election officials to make sure the town had handled the vote correctly. After a short departure, she returned to say that the town would consult with legal counsel today before making a decision on the result. Opponents and supporters were free to file a petition for a recount in the morning, she said, advising those on hand to go home and get some rest.

"We've never been through this before, we've never had a vote this big with so much riding on the line," she told the small crowd on hand.

Opponents and supporters alike could barely believe the result.

"I'm stunned. It's like dropping a penny and having it land on its side," said Karen Traub, chairwoman of the board of library trustees, after hearing the results at Town Hall.

"I was prepared for anything but not for this," Bob Groves, a leading opponent of the question, said in a phone interview shortly after the vote.

Opponents and supporters alike hailed the number of votes cast, saying it was evidence that democracy is alive and well in Shutesbury. Yet they drew different lessons from the result.

"The number of votes cast means there is a tremendous amount of engagement," Groves said. "This is a very contentious issue, which in my opinion, means it shouldn't go forward."

Michael DeChiara, who helped coordinate the pro-library vote, said "the encouraging sign is that there was 75 percent participation. I hope they are picking hope over fear."

He said the increase in pro-library voters was a sign that "there are a lot of people with a positive vision for a library in this town. That's what they came up to vote."

Tuesday marked the third time in four months residents have cast a ballot on a new library. Each election showed what a contentious and complex topic the proposed 5,800-square-foot library planned for Leverett Road has become.

At an Oct. 26 special Town Meeting, voters gave the question the exact two-thirds approval needed to proceed to a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override vote on Nov. 8. In that instance, voters rejected funding the project by 423 to 382.

Later that month, the Select Board voted 2-1 to put the question to the voters a second time.

Supporters noted that such a decision is legal under state law and warranted given the importance of the issue at hand. Opponents said town officials were trampling the will of the townspeople, potentially alienating a host of residents never before involved in Shutesbury politics.

The issue has provided something of a jolt to this tiny town's otherwise tranquil politics, galvanizing supporters and opponents of the library alike, and opening up larger discussions about taxes and town spending.

In the weeks leading up to the election, both sides canvassed the town in search of votes, sent out mailings to advance their respective arguments, and employed get-out-the-vote operations on Tuesday. It culminated in a voting-day atmosphere that gave Shutesbury the feel of a small New Hampshire town on presidential primary day, which also fell on Tuesday.

Indeed, the turnout was more akin to a presidential election than a local one. The 74 percent turnout was a 15-point increase from the November vote, which drew nearly 60 percent of the town's registered voters to the polls.

At issue Tuesday was whether Shutesbury voters would appropriate $1.4 million for the $3.5 million library. The remaining $2.1 million for the project would be covered by a building grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners. Supporters are seeking to raise $400,000 to offset the cost to Shutesbury taxpayers. As of Jan. 8, they had raised a total of $170,316 in the form of pledges and donations.

Opponents of the project argued that the proposed library was too big for Shutesbury's needs, and questioned whether residents could afford a tax increase at a time when the economy remains stuck in the doldrums.

The average Shutesbury property owner, with a home valued at $243,814, would see his or her annual tax bill increase by an average of $113 per year. Over the course of 20 years, when the bond on the library is paid off, the total increase would be $2,269, according to Finance Committee projections.

Yet supporters countered that a new library was a worthwhile investment. The current building, M.N. Spear, is 900 square feet and lacks amenities such as running water. The new library would offer more space for community events while enhancing the town's ability to provide library services, they said.