Last modified: Friday, May 9, 2008 1:17 AM EDT EDITORIAL: New town politics full of surprises So you say you knew how the latest area town elections were going to turn out. If only you had put down a few well-placed wagers, you'd be rich. Sorry, but we're not buying it. Maybe, just maybe, you figured that Foxboro Selectman Robert Hickey was in trouble after six years in office - an eternity to 21st century voters - but you did not see Paul Mortenson unseating him by a 1,501 to 1,016 margin in Monday's election. On the other hand, you might have guessed that Jason Talerman's challenge to Selectman Robert Garrity would be a close race in Norfolk on Tuesday, but you definitely did not see it coming down to a squeaker decided by 30 votes. As for William Gouveia's successful write-in campaign for Norton town moderator the week before, there was a precedent only three years earlier when Mary Steele won a write-in campaign for selectman, but it would have been no one's wildest guess that Gouveia would top incumbent Phillip Warren by a spread of 698 to 464. As for Gouveia also winning a write-in election to the planning board that he did not even want (and refused to accept), Nostradamus couldn't have called that on his best day. Surprises make for headlines and we have had plenty of them in this middle section of the annual spring election season. Our congratulations go to all the candidates - as far as we can see, the campaigns were clean - and especially to the winners. They have proved themselves adept at the new politics of municipal government. As different as the new tactics of e-mailing and maximizing use of the Internet are from the door-to-door soliciting and Legion Hall forums of the old politics, they still represent skills that will be valuable in providing town leadership. But alarms have been sounding for 30 years as participation in local elections has fallen from a once typical turnout of 50 percent of the registered voters. And they grew louder as Norton's turnout dipped to 11 percent last week and Foxboro and Norfolk's to 25 percent this week. It was fun - for headline writers, anyway - that the latest town elections were so unpredictable. At the same time, you have to recognize the possibility that town governments may be on the threshold of dangerous instability. Particularly instructive is Gouveia's victory for planning board. He could have claimed the seat because a mere three people placed his stickers on the ballot. Just suppose the town's most rapacious developer or looniest environmentalist had had four stickers made up; the town's guardian board of land usage would be saddled with an extremist. The dangers of a successful stealth campaign are only too real in town politics today. That's something for Mansfield's voters to keep in mind as Tuesday's town election approaches. The results may defy prediction. Your only insurance that the right people will get into office is to get out and vote for them.