32% of Duxbury voters approve the budget, but elect few candidates
March 5, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti 
Dan Cardozo works the check-in booth in Duxbury’s drive-through voting loop late on Town Meeting Day afternoon. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
With a turnout over 32%, Duxbury voters cast their ballots in their Town Meeting Day drive-through, overwhelmingly passing their budget but coming up short of enough candidates to fill all of the openings this year.
According to Town Clerk Maureen Harvey, 381 of Duxbury’s 1,169 voters took part in Tuesday’s election. All of the questions on the Town Meeting Day warning are decided by Australian ballot in Duxbury.
Harvey ran unopposed for town clerk and town treasurer positions and will return to those roles for three more years.
The town has embraced drive-through voting using the lot outside the town office and highway garage with a loop set up around two booths for checking in and casting ballots. Town election officials hand out ballots on clipboards to voters who remain in their vehicles. After pulling to the side to mark their votes, drivers go around the loop, roll down their window, and slide their ballot into the tabulator machine at arm’s length.
On Tuesday afternoon, Mo Lavanway was the election official working the last window where he checked each voter off the list and handed out stickers and little wrapped chocolates.
Duxbury election workers Cindy Senning and Mo Lavanway work the check-out booth on Tuesday afternoon. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Voters approved all five articles on the ballot including the proposed town budget of $1,311,655 that passed by a vote of 289 to 76, according to Harvey’s election results report. The budget vote reflected strong support despite its 12% increase over last year’s budget. It included significant pay increases for the town’s two road crew members, added in at their behest late in the budget-drafting process in December.
Other questions affirmed included adding $125,000 to the town’s capital reserve account and approving spending up to $210,000 from the account in the coming year.
None of the elections on the ballot had contests and for several key offices, there were no candidates listed at all.
Three positions on the Duxbury Selectboard were up for election this Town Meeting Day. Former board member Mari Pratt, who previously served as chair, ran unopposed for a one-year term and received 291 votes. That spot on the ballot, however, asked voters to select two candidates to fill one-year seats. No write-in received enough votes to be elected, Harvey noted. Also on the ballot was an empty spot for a three-year selectboard seat.
That also was the case for the Duxbury seat on the Harwood Unified Union School District School Board. Member Life LeGeros just completed a three-year term and did not run for re-election. No one filed to get on the ballot to take the spot and no write-in received enough votes to win it. Duxbury has two seats on the Harwood board. Its other member is Cindy Senning who has been vice chair; her term ends in 2026.
A position on the town budget committee also was empty on the ballot.
Those elected were: Dan Senning as town moderator, Mo Lavanway as lister, and Naomi Alfini to the Cemetery Commission.
The drive-through voting loop is busy as Town Meeting Day nears an end on Tuesday. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
‘A baseball team without a bench’
On Monday, March 10, the Duxbury Selectboard holds its first meeting after the election, when it typically reorganizes to select officers for the next year. But only three members will be in place given that two seats went unfilled in Tuesday’s election.
“Three is a legal quorum. We can do business,” said Vice Chair Jamison Ervin.
Three members whose terms just expired opted not to run again this year: former Chair Richard Charland, Jerry McMahan and Crystal Sherman. In addition to Ervin and returning Pratt, Patrick Zachary is the third continuing member. Both Ervin and Zachary’s terms end in 2026.
“We’ve been trying to twist some arms,” Ervin said of board member’s recruitment efforts. “People no longer want to serve.”
At the town’s informational Citizens Have Your Say Day meeting in early January, Charland attested to the time and commitment the role has been. Duxbury does not have a town administrator or manager, so the bulk of the operational duties fall to selectboard members and the town clerk. The board has been advertising for a part-time assistant to the board, but the search has not landed a viable applicant yet. They suspended the search recently, waiting for the new board to possibly revise the position details before re-advertising.
Ervin said the town relies on a small circle of residents who step up for various roles, but it’s a challenge to keep the positions full. She pointed to the lack of competition on the ballot and even candidates for appointed positions like the Planning Commission are in short supply.
“It’s a systemic problem. It’s becoming more of a job than a volunteer effort,” she said of serving on the selectboard. “It’s a baseball team without a bench.”
Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Those who step up do so out of a sense of service and not for personal gain, Ervin said. Duxbury Selectboard members receive an annual stipend of $900; the chair receives $1,900.
On Wednesday, Pratt said she hopes townspeople will see the situation and get motivated to serve for at least a year. For example, a handful of people were listed as write-ins, although she and Harvey said that often doesn’t reflect a serious effort. In Duxbury, a write-in candidate needs just 12 votes to win election.
To anyone who has considered serving on the selectboard, Pratt said now would be a good time to come forward. “We need to have a board of five to operate in our most efficient way,” she said. “Please consider being part of this board. We would like to have you try it the get a sense of how it works.”
The board will meet at 5:30 p.m. next Monday to organize its roles. Ervin said she hopes that there will be some residents who may become motivated to step up, in which case the board can make appointments to fill the openings until Town Meeting Day 2026.
“Either that, or we’ll limp along with three,” she said.