It looks like residents in the Village of Anmore will have a few choices to mark an X beside when the community heads to the polls this fall.

The nomination deadline for the upcoming byelection passed Friday with a total of three candidates filing their nomination papers.

The candidates for the Sept. 22 vote are Arthur Crossman, Sagheer Jan and Ann-Marie Thiele. Both Crossman and Jan live outside the village.

Crossman also ran in the last mayoral byelection against current mayor Heather Anderson in 2010, but ultimately lost.

A fall byelection was called after rookie councillor Tim Laidler resigned his seat in June.

Anderson told The NOW she is expecting a good race for the seat, but is surprised two of three candidates don't live in the village.

She said she's not aware of the candidates' involvement in the community.

The mayor is also predicting a decent turnout at the polls, given the election is taking place after summer and the length of time since the village last held a byelection to replace a councillor.

"People in Anmore take the election seriously and they do come out to vote," Anderson said.

Voter turnout in the last civic election was 54.3 per cent, which was on par with the village's 2010 byelection and 2008 election.

Anderson said she's also looking forward to having a new councillor in place so council can move forward with projects for the rest of the term.

At the time of his resignation, Laidler told The NOW he decided to quit over the way council had hired its new CAO.

He suggested the village didn't follow the criteria set out in the job application.

After four months of being acting CAO, Tim Harris was offered the job on a permanent basis. Harris worked for the village for 15 years before becoming CAO.

Anmore is no stranger to byelections. The village also held a byelection to replace former long-time mayor Hal Weinberg, who stepped down at the end of 2009.

This year's byelection is expected to cost $8,000 to $9,000.

jdeutsch@thenownews.com