BERLIN — It took three tries, but the select board in Berlin finally blessed the Washington Central School Board’s request to mail the district’s ballots to all active registered voters in its five towns.
What does that mean? That depends on whether you live in Berlin, Calais, East Montpelier, Middlesex or Worcester, because while the Berlin board’s decision paves the way for again extending a pandemic-era accommodation, it doesn’t iron out wrinkles associated with that process.
Those wrinkles have nothing to do with concerns about ballot security and election integrity that twice prevented a shorthanded select board from approving the school board’s request late last month.
The board overcame that hurdle when all five members were present Tuesday night — voting, 3-1, to support the district’s plans for universal mail-in voting.
Though board member Ture Nelson renewed his concerns about the practice a majority of the Berlin board did what members were told their counterparts already had in each of the district’s other five towns.
Without their consent, Flor Diaz-Smith, chair of the Washington Central board, told members of the Berlin board the district would be blocked from automatically mailing its ballots to all voters in advance of the March elections.
“It makes it easier for people to have their voices heard,” Diaz-Smith said of universal vote-by-mail, which she acknowledged is something of a misnomer.
That’s the wrinkle because when it comes to ballots that will be counted after the polls close on Town Meeting Day only some of them will automatically be mailed and at least two will have to be requested by prospective absentee voters.
One is for this year’s presidential primary, which, unlike the general election, will require voters who want to be mailed a ballot to contact their clerk and ask for them. The other, as was the case for the first time last year, is for the Central Vermont Career Center School District.
Diaz-Smith is a member of the board of that now-autonomous district, which includes all five Washington Central communities, as well as 13 others.
No serious attempt was made to persuade all 18 towns to agree to automatically mail ballots for the career center to voters in that district in the wake of last year’s comparatively underwhelming turnout.
Officials in several of those communities are adamantly opposed to the concept for reasons ranging from the expense it represents to the confusion it could create.
The only ballot all active registered voters in Washington Central will automatically receive this year is the one for the pre-K-12 school district.
Select boards in two of the district’s five towns — East Montpelier and Calais — have agreed to mail ballots for their municipal elections out with the school district ballots. In East Montpelier, those ballots typically include the town budget, while in Calais those spending decisions are still made on the floor of a traditional town meeting and the Australian ballot is primarily used to elect local officials. Ballots for the career center won’t be included in those envelopes and, like the ones for this year’s presidential primary, will either have to be requested in advance, or voted in person.
The primary could raise the profile of the career center, which was on the ballot in 18 towns for the first time last year. Those requesting ballots for the primary will be asked if they want to be sent the career center ballot many still don’t know exists.
While select boards in Middlesex, Worcester and, eventually, Berlin were willing to accommodate the Washington Central board’s vote-by-mail request, they haven’t expressed interest in emulating it.
Absentee ballots for this year’s municipal elections in all three communities will be available upon request, but not mailed automatically.
In Middlesex, which plans to hold its first traditional town meeting since 2020 this March, the ballot will be limited to elections for local office. Town meeting returned in Worcester last year and its ballot is also typically limited to local elections.
Berlin’s is a bit longer and includes the town budget, all other monetary requests, as well as local elections. This year it will likely include a series of charter changes.
Three proposals — one that would authorize the board to impose a 1% tax on sales, rooms, meals and alcohol, another that would pave the way for a shift to a town manager-style government, and a third that would negate the need to obtain voter approval before buying and selling land — are under consideration.
Public hearings on all three proposals have been scheduled for Jan. 29 and Feb. 5.
