There’s nothing quite like a hotly contested election to juice up the level of local interest, especially when no one knows whether the final ballot count is truly an election or just a legal exercise to be used as the basis for a court decision.

As this is being written several hours before ballot counting begins for this summer’s Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors election, the vote totals are not available, but the mystery of what will happen next remains.

Of the four candidates for election — Frank Daly, Rick Farr, David Hardy and Stuart Lakernick — two will win … something. Whether that will be a seat on the board or a non-binding popularity contest, however, will have to wait at least until Nov. 15.

That’s when Circuit Court Judge Sidney Campen will hear arguments in Farr’s lawsuit challenging the board of directors’ decision to disqualify him as a candidate midway through the election. He could decide the case shortly thereafter, depending on which way Wednesday’s ballot count goes.

If, for instance, Farr comes in third to Daly and Lakernick,  the case becomes mostly moot. With nothing to gain but the satisfaction of winning the eligibility argument, Farr could decide not to pursue the case.

Certainly, the board would be eager to drop it, and Judge Campen might be just as happy to move on to other cases that don’t involve as much chicanery as this one.

But if Farr does earn enough votes to put him in at least second place, Campen will have to resolve the greater issue of candidate eligibility and define for the association what equitable ownership, as written in the Declaration of Restrictions, actually means.