(Host) Voters in Tinmouth turned out in force during Town Meeting Day balloting to decide how they vote.
As VPR’s Nina Keck reports, they chose to compromise between secret ballots and open floor votes.
(Keck) Tinmouth Town Clerk Gail Fallar says voter turnout was 57 percent, way up from the 30 percent who voted last year.
A big reason she says were the articles asking if residents wanted to discontinue the use of the Australian ballot for approving budgets, officers and public questions.
It’s been an emotional issue for many in the town. Fallar says by a very narrow margin, voters decided to go back to floor votes for public questions and budgets.
But she says residents want to continue to elect town and school officials by Australian ballot. She says the town may be petitioned to reconsider the vote in a month’s time because it was so close, but she’s still pleased by the outcome.
(Fallar) "I’m jumping for joy because the town was so polarized before – all one way or the other way and this way we can do some of both."
For VPR news, I’m Nina Keck.