Ballots are ready, and Paris voters can vote on November 3rd; or they can go down to the town office and vote any time the town office is open, starting Monday October 5. Call 743-2501 to double check hours.
The issues are important, statewide as well as locally, and voting early is a very effective way to make a responsible statement. A voter can just go into the office and vote there in a place off to the side of the room, or the ballots can be taken home and mailed back, or brought back in person.
11-03-09 is a state referendum, and there are 7 items, all important, some more controversial than others. Maine Rep. Terry Hayes of Buckfield has written a good synopsis of the items. Many localities will have their own municipal items on an additional, separate ballot, as well. [See Voters Can Speak? 9-30-09 below.]
An interesting point to ponder about the local ballot this November, this on-again-off-again ballot: the ballot is to be printed in-house, and they will be hand counted. Not a huge deal, perhaps, in the realm of things?
A voter called the town office in the middle of the third week of September, to check on possible items to be on the local ballot. The items were not clearly designated at that time. However, the town clerk mentioned in the phone discussion that there needn't be a concern about a time line for the usual printed ballots that go with the voting machines that have been used in the past; because "there was no money budgeted for ballots, and anyway those voting machines are so expensive to adjust" [a discussion of the calibrating of the voting machines followed] "so we are going to print the ballots in-house and save the town some money."
A little digging showed that, actually, there had indeed been money allotted for ballots and calibrating, as well as other needs, for both the June and November elections, and those needs were approved for inclusion in the annual budget passed 6-13-09. The costs for the specific items appear in the Administrative Services budget section: "Election/Voting Machine" is listed in Administrative Detail FY 2009-10 under "Other Services/Expenses," $3700; and "Election Supplies" is there under "General Supplies," $3500. The line item for "Ballot Clerks" may be more than the $1,150 budgeted since counting ballots by hand will require more hours.
The point to ponder is this: although it is not legal to move budgeted amounts already approved by the voters from one budget category to another, i.e., the Police Department to the Fire Department or the Highway Department, it is allowed to move items around within a category, say, for instance, within the Administrative Services budget.
Unused funds from a line item in the Administrative Services budget could become a source of funds for unexpected costs incurred in another line item that now needs more money. Could that work, say, for unplanned legal expenses that could well exceed its line item? Raid the elections budget, perhaps?
Counting paper ballots will be time consuming and painstaking for the clerks, and no doubt stressful, since on this particular paper ballot is just one highly contested question: "Shall an ordinance entitled 'Ordinance for a recall election in the Town of Paris, Maine' be enacted?" "Yes or No?" The controls in the town office for giving out and receiving absentee ballots will be under close scrutiny, as will those taking ballots to nursing homes and apartment complexes.
The voters of Paris will be wishing the paper-ballot counters the very best.
