By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter
Shrewsbury – Board of Selectmen Chair Maurice DePalo led discussions to reschedule the Annual Town Election and Annual Town Meeting at their April 28 meeting.
Originally scheduled Tuesday, May 5, the board voted to hold the Annual Town Election on Tuesday, June 16. Town Meeting was scheduled for Monday, May 18, but the tentative new date is June 22.
Selectman James Kane had suggested at a previous board meeting to hold the municipal election in conjunction with the General Election on Nov. 3 in order to reduce the cost of a separate election.
“It appears that the constructs are not in place to allow such a vote to occur so I will withdraw that,” he explained.
Town Manager Kevin Mizikar said that per the selectmen’s approval, Town Clerk Sandy Wright would immediately begin the process of notifying voters, candidates, poll workers and preparing the ballot.
Absentee and mail-in ballots will be available as early as May 6 and June 5 would be the last day to register to vote.
“Residents are going to be strongly encouraged to vote by mail,” Mizikar said. “That will obviously limit the exposure at the polling places.”
The hours of voting on Election Day would also be limited with polling places opening at 12 p.m. and closing at 8 p.m.
“I think that given the current environment with the virus and where we are with Governor Baker extending the stay-at-home order for another two weeks that this is a prudent schedule,” remarked Selectman Beth Casavant.
Wright stated that she was happy that the election would take place before June 30, noting that the mail-in voting option would expire after that date.
Later in the meeting, the board discussed, based on Mizikar’s recommendation, tentatively rescheduling the Annual Town Meeting to Monday, June 22.
“At your next meeting on May 12, we will bring a revised draft warrant back to you and we will continue to update the town on the likelihood that the meeting will occur on June 22,” he added. “At your following meeting on May 26 we propose that the Board of Selectmen will sign a warrant.”
In the meantime, details on the number of articles and the scope of the warrant remain up in the air. In addition, there are ongoing discussions about the possibility of holding the Town Meeting remotely.
