The town election staff is taking on a new role this summer.

On July 30, they are hoping Bedford citizens will turn out at the Town Hall – but not to vote. Instead, election workers are counting on them to give blood and enter the bone marrow registry.

In 2008, blood drive and bone marrow registrations were held in conjunction with all four elections at the town polling station – from the presidential primary in January to the election in November. Blood and bone marrow registrations were taken again in March. That leaves a year until the next town election – one year without blood and bone marrow drives.

Or not. According to town moderator Ryk Bullock, who says that just because the town is not having an election does not mean he cannot organize more drives.

“We did what had never been done before with an election – now we’re doing what has never been done before without an election,” Bullock said.

On July 30, at least 10 members of his election staff will be working at the Old Bedford Town Hall – but more could be possible. “Anyone who has even heard of this has called and said I want to be there,” Bullock said.

The election workers won’t actually be drawing the blood – but they will have the familiar task of checking people in. The drive and registrations will run from 1 to 6 p.m. Bullock has also scheduled a second event for Sept. 30 at the same time and location, but if turnout is big in July, he said he will move to a larger venue.

He picked those dates after hearing from the American Red Cross those were the hardest times to get donations of blood. In addition to the Red Cross, Save Giovanni’s Friends and DKMS Americas will be managing the bone marrow registrations.

So far, the past five elections have yielded 378 pints of blood and 600 registrations for bone marrow donations. Absent an election, Bullock is hesitant to set a goal for the two events this year – although he knows he cannot expect the huge waves of residents that usually come out for presidential elections.

In the meantime, Bullock is doing as much as he can to shore up community support. As in the past, he said he is opening the event up to community organizations like the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire, the Lions Club and the Rotary Club.

“We’re trying to bring in as much as we can those who have shown interest before,” Bullock said. “We want to bring everybody in. The more the merrier.”