WEST WARWICK — The Board of Canvassers yesterday certified the nomination papers of all the declared candidates for the three School Committee seats on the November ballot.

Running for the two seats that carry full, four-year terms are Democrats Bruce E. Vannasse and James A. Williamson Jr., both incumbents, and Vincent D. Bradley; and Republican Lynn M. Ponte and independent Thomas Duffy.

Running for the seat carrying a two-year term are Democrat John A. Pettinichio Jr. and Republican Christopher Boucher.

The Board of Canvassers last week declared the June declarations by those candidates null and void because none specified whether the candidate was seeking a two-year term or a four-year term — an understandable oversight, perhaps, given that board members generally serve only four-year terms.

However, the seat currently held by Vanasse is up for a two-year term. The Town Charter mandates that someone appointed to fill the unexpired term of a School Committee member serves only until the next election, at which time the seat is up for grabs. Vanasse was appointed in May of last year to fill the seat of Thomas V. Iannitti Jr., who resigned three months after being elected.

Initially, the candidates were set to sign an amendment to their declarations, stating which seat they were seeking in the election. However, some opposed the addendum to cover up the mistake and insisted on doing the declaration process over again. Also, they pointed out, not all of the candidates were at the meeting to state which seat they planned to run for.

Duffy was one of those who missed the meeting. He didn’t find out there was a problem with the declarations until the next day, he said.

“I came in to get some signatures from people I know in the office and I found out then,” he said. “I was kind of discouraged after I’d already gotten some signatures, but we were all playing by the same rules.”

On Friday, all of the candidates were given fresh declaration forms that clearly stated which seat they planned to seek. The forms had to be returned to the Town Clerk by Monday at 4 p.m., and officials worked over the next few hours to get the nomination forms ready for the candidates.

They were able to pick up the nomination forms at 7 that evening. They had to be returned, with the requisite signatures by noon yesterday.

Duffy had already taken Thursday off to get signatures before last week’s normal deadline. But since he had only a few hours to get all of his signatures again, he took Monday and Tuesday of this week off from work as well, he said.

Candidates Petinicchio and Vanasse were leaving Town Hall at about the same time Duffy was turning his paperwork in to the town clerk.

Just to be sure, Duffy said, he got more than the required 50 signatures on his nomination papers. And he went back to many of the same people.

“A lot of people didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “So I brought the article from the paper to show them.”

With the nomination signatures certified last night by the canvassers, the names of all of the candidates will be forwarded to the secretary of state for inclusion on the election ballot.

tbuford@projo.com