NORTH ATTLEBORO -- In the latest in a series of snafus, voting in the town election has been pushed back a day to Tuesday, April 4.

Sharon Paquin, administrative secretary for the elections department, said the town election will be held on the first Tuesday in April, instead of the first Monday, because of a bylaw change approved last year by Representative Town Meeting.

The change was not intended to go into effect until 2007, however that provision was not written into the bylaw when it was approved at town meeting.

The apparent mistake comes on the heels of another development that leaves the town with only one polling place for the election.

Voting will occur only at the high school, after a second polling place at the First United Methodist Church was ruled out because it does not meet handicapped-accessibility requirements. In the latest development, town officials determined the voting date would have to be pushed back to April 4 after confusion over the weekend about when voters would go to the polls.

Rosemary Baker, an RTM member, raised questions about the election date after she attended a meeting for a local candidate and found there was disagreement over when the election will be held.

`` I'm on the bylaw study committee and remembered that there was nothing written into that bylaw that said it would go into effect on a specific date,'' she said. `` So, the bylaw should have gone into effect when it was approved.

`` Some people thought the election was on Monday, but those of us who are on RTM said it was on Tuesday.''

Baker said she contacted the election department, the attorney general's office and the secretary of state's election division to clear up the confusion.

Meanwhile, Paquin contacted town counsel and received confirmation that since the bylaw did not contain an exception for 2006, the town election should have been scheduled for April 4.

That presented another problem because a professional development day had been scheduled to coincide with the Monday election to help ease parking at the high school.

Paquin contacted the school department and said Superintendent Rick Smith has agreed to move the professional development day to April 4, and will send notification home to parents letting them know the reason for the change of date.

Since all of the town's precincts are voting at the high school for the first time this year, all households with a registered voter will receive notification of the new polling place.

The postcards also will indicate that the date of the election has changed to April 4. `` We are going to do our best to let everyone know about the change in date,'' Paquin said.

Selectmen Chairman John Rhyno said it is fortunate the issue was raised now because there is plenty of time to notify voters about the change of date.

`` It was a very honest mistake,'' Rhyno said. `` It is what it is, and we'll all work together to fix it.''

The move to Tuesday voting was intended to boost turnout, since state and national elections are held on Tuesdays.

AMY DEMELIA can be reached at 508-236-0334 or by e-mail at ademelia@thesunchronicle.com.