Opinion

Select Board elections in days gone by

Barbara Seaver greets voters at the polls in November 2021 | NGX photo

| Barbara Seaver, Deputy Town Clerk, January 1985 to September 2015, In My Opinion |

After working at the municipal election this year, I was thinking back on how the whole process for electing Select Board members has changed over the years. Many years ago the town meeting was held on the second Saturday of March on the second floor of the Town Hall. I grew up in New Gloucester and attended a few of these meetings with my parents.  Nominations were taken from the floor. If the person nominated did not want to serve, they refused, and then it was on to the next nomination. The vote would then be done by a show of hands for each position that needed to be filled. 

When I went to work for the Town of New Gloucester in January 1985, my first town meeting as an “official” was in March, and the Town Meeting had been moved to Memorial School. The voting took place by secret ballot while the meeting was going on. Some years the person whose term was about to end would be voted back in. Other years there were new men or women voted in.

In 1992, after Town Manager Bill Cooper and I left the Town Hall after the votes were counted, tallied and everything put in the vault at 3:15 a.m., he said “never again” and looked into getting voting machines. By that time, the voting had been changed to June to coincide with State elections and referendum votes.  Paper ballots were used then, and a large locked wooden ballot box that the State had issued to all towns was used. The voters would put their ballot in the box and at the close of voting, the counting of ballots commenced. There were eight to ten pairs of ballot clerks, and one of each set of clerks would read the votes, the other would record the votes, then they would switch positions and do the same again. After being checked each bunch of ballots was wrapped with the tally sheet and on to the next group to count until all ballots were tallied. 

When we had the first vote using the new machines, the results were announced at the close of the polls from the machine tally. The ballots were put in metal boxes with locks and put in the Town Hall vault. By law the sealed boxes of ballots cannot be opened for a certain period of time by law after the vote.  After that time passed, we opened the boxes and did a hand count to make sure it was right.  It was, and we knew the machines had been and would be accurate. The ballots are then transferred to other boxes, sealed and kept for two years in the vault.

A lot has changed over the years.  Now the candidates that want to be on the Select Board get petitions from the Town Office and collect the number of signatures needed for their name to be placed on the ballot. There are “meet the candidates” broadcasts on cable TV, and candidates campaign and put signs up throughout the town, so the names are known before the vote.

Change is inevitable and can often be helpful.  Moving the Select Board election to the June voting dramatically increased voter participation.  Also having the ability to vote by absentee ballot has made it easier for people to vote, especially if they are not in town on voting day. The campaign signs we now see all over town help raise awareness, get the candidates’ names out and remind people when the voting is taking place.  

This is a picture of a close election: a one vote difference between two candidates for Select Board that we counted three times to be sure it was right. (Photo courtesy of Barbara Seaver)

Barbara Seaver
New Gloucester

Editor’s note: Thanks to Barb Seaver for sharing her recollections and perspective, and apologies for my jumping the gun with an earlier post! – Joanne Cole

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