Duxbury sets special Nov. 16 vote to change March Town Meeting
Oct. 17, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti It’s months away but Duxbury town officials are already looking past the November General Election to Town Meeting Day in March and they’re thinking some changes might be in order.
Now that changes to Town Meeting Day procedures brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have been lifted, municipalities around Vermont will return to their pre-pandemic formats for Town Meeting Day which falls on Tuesday, March 7, 2023.
For the past two years, all business for the March vote in most communities including Duxbury has been done on paper ballots known as Australian ballots. Voting was open all day and in Duxbury’s case, the polls were set up in a drive-through format where people didn’t even need to leave their vehicle to check in, get a ballot, mark it, and hand it in.
In 2023, Duxbury would return to its in-person Town Meeting Day format. Typically town voters gather at Crossett Brook Middle School to discuss and vote on all of the articles on the warning from budgets to elections to fill town offices. Business is conducted with voice votes or with hands raised or occasionally with a hastily conducted paper vote.
Special Nov. 16 town meeting warning. Click to enlarge.
The polls would be open for voters to stream in all day to cast ballots on school district questions which are done by Australian ballot.
But town business is decided only by those who attend the often hours-long meetings going item-by-item discussing and then voting on each question.
Turnout under that system was sparse and the potential for more participation became clear during the pandemic when record numbers of voters took part in the all-day drive-through voting on Town Meeting Day and for other state and special elections.
Town Clerk Maureen Harvey has pointed out that Town Meeting Day turnout has tripled during the pandemic, up to about 350 voters compared with about 120 who would typically attend the in-person meetings. Duxbury has about 1,150 registered voters.
As the lead town official to manage local elections, Harvey said she supports the switch away from the lengthy in-person meetings. “Is it an efficient way to do business? No,” she said.
At its Oct. 10 meeting, the Duxbury Select Board decided that it will give townspeople the opportunity to shift permanently to the Australian ballot format for March elections. To do so in time for March 2023, however, requires a decision soon. Such a change would need to happen using the current in-person town meeting format, too.
The board voted 4-1 to call a special town meeting for Wednesday, Nov. 16 -- in-person at Crossett Brook Middle School starting at 7 p.m.
They have three questions for voters to discuss and decide:
Whether to elect town officers by Australian ballot
Whether to adopt all budget articles by Australian ballot
Whether to vote on all public questions by Australian ballot
Voters can choose to handle all three of those types of business the same way, or choose some combination of in-person voting and Australian ballot voting.
Harvey pointed out that if the shift is made, the Selectboard would be required to hold an informational meeting prior to the Australian ballot vote on Town Meeting Day in order to allow voters to ask questions about the town budget and other ballot items prior to voting.
Likewise, if voters are interested in having input into the budget process, they would need to weigh in before the board finalizes the budget that would be printed in the town report and voted on by paper ballot. Questions printed on the Australian ballots cannot be amended as is done at an in-person meeting. Voters would only be able to choose yes or no options on the printed questions on Town Meeting Day.
Board Chair Mari Pratt was the only member to vote against holding a special meeting in November. She agreed that voters should weigh in on the format of future Town Meeting Day elections, but she said she preferred holding March Town Meeting in person in 2023 and having the Australian ballot questions posed then with the results going into effect starting in 2024.
But voters now will get to decide next month whether to make the shift starting in March. If they do, the Nov. 16 special meeting could be the last time Duxbury voters gather together to discuss and decide town business.
The board also has discussed taking the opportunity at the November special meeting to discuss planning under way on a comprehensive plan for road work for the next 10 years. It would be an opportunity to provide an update, especially after road conditions in the spring mud season were particularly challenging this year, they said.
The warning for the special meeting lists only the election-format items to be voted on.