Town Charter: How to Cast Your Vote

The primary purpose of bringing the Town Charter to vote in November was so that the Selectboard would have a clear direction ahead of budget season. The November election is a State election and the Charter vote is considered a special Town election.  Because the State mails ballots to registered voters ahead of the November State election, ballot items needed to be submitted to them back in July. The Selectboard was unaware of this date requirement until after the deadline had passed.  The Selectboard has been discussing the Charter and making changes based upon community feedback since May.  The July deadline was unknown when the Selectboard cast the vote to place on the ballot.  The deadline of July would not have allowed time for ample and robust community discussion that is needed for proposing a Charter.  The Selectboard discussed this issue at Mondays meeting and began working with the Town Clerk on how to get information out to voters and receive a Town Special Election Ballot for the charter.

The Selectboard does not make rules regarding elections.  All elections are governed by State statues and the Town Clerks enforce the rules and runs the election.  Because of this, the Town Charter is not part of the State ballot voters will receive. However, there are many ways to cast your vote!