Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt, D-South Portland, shown at the State House in June. She pressed for an Equal Rights Amendment for five decades. Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press

South Portland will hold a special election on March 5 to select a state representative to replace Rep. Lois Galgay Reckitt, who died in October.

Gov. Janet Mills and Secretary of State Shenna Bellows signed a proclamation this week announcing the special election after the City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday to request that the seat be formally declared vacant. The council voted unanimously last week to hold off on the election until November 2024, but reversed course after hearing from residents who objected to the delay.

The special election will coincide with the March 5 presidential primaries in Maine.

House District 122 encompasses all of South Portland’s District 1 and some of District 2.

Reckitt, a Democrat and longtime advocate for women’s rights, died in October of colon cancer. She was 78.

Reckitt spent 36 years as executive director of Family Crisis Services in Cumberland County, which serves victims of domestic violence and promotes prevention efforts. In the 1980s, she was elected national executive vice president of the National Organization for Women and was a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign Fund.

She was first elected to the state Legislature in 2016.