The Londonderry High School Gymnasium is the place for voters to cast their ballots on Tuesday, March 11, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. to make their choice known for both contested and non-contested races and a variety of warrant articles.
Town Clerk Kathleen Donnelly said absentee ballot requests can be obtained from the town web site at www.londonderrynh.org or at the town offices at 268B Mammoth Road.
“Absentee ballots are for residents that will be out of town or who are traveling, residents who can’t get to the polling place due to disability, residents who work out of town and won’t be home until after the polls close, and for religious observance, if the election is being held on a day when for religious reasons the resident can’t come to the polls,” Donnelly said.
She said residents can go to the Town Clerk’s office and fill out the request and vote at the office; the Town Clerk will hold that ballot until Election Day, when the moderator will open and tally all absentee ballots. “Or they can take the ballot home and mail it in,” Donnelly said.
Donnelly said the town has 15,944 registered voters. Residents can register to vote until 10 days prior to the election. In addition, New Hampshire has same day registration, meaning residents can register to vote at the polling place on the day of the election. A photo ID, proof of citizenship, and proof of residency are required to register. A birth certificate or passport establishes citizenship, and a mortgage or rent receipt would prove residency if a driver’s license shows a different address, Connelly said.
Supervisor of the Checklist Geraldine “Gerry” Van Grevenhof said she hopes more people will come out to vote next week.
“The elections affect everybody within the town,” Van Grevenhof said. “Everybody should come out if possible to vote because the money that’s being spent is their tax money and they should have a say in it. People don’t show up at the deliberatives because they can’t vote on anything at the deliberatives, but they aren’t informed because they don’t come to the deliberatives, and so therefore they just don’t know what they are voting for.”
Contested races on the ballot are: Town Council, two seats, Thomas Freda, Joseph Green, Christopher Melcher and John Robinson; Town Clerk/Tax Collector, one seat, Sherry Farrell, Adriana Komst and Deborah Shimkonis Nowicki; Trustee of the Leach Library, two seats, Raymond Brown, Melissa Coffey and Cynthia Peterson; and School Board, two seats, Nancy Hendricks, Dan Lekas and George Tsekrekas.
Candidates in non-contested races are Budget Committee, three seats, Dana Coons; Town Moderator, one position, Cindi Rice Conley; Supervisor of the Checklist, six-year term, Anne Warner; and Supervisor of the Checklist, two-year term, Christine Tighe.
Included among the articles on the Town Warrant are:
Article 2: To change the elected position of Town Clerk/Tax Collector to two separate positions, with the Town Clerk elected for a three-year term and the Tax Collector appointed.
Article 4: The operating budget of $28,054,908 and the default budget of $28,086,186.
Article 6: To raise and appropriate $2,629,815 for construction, payment of the interest on any debt incurred, management, maintenance, operation and repair of newly constructed sewer systems.
Article 11: To raise and appropriate $275,000 to be placed in the Town’s Roadway Maintenance Trust Fund.
Article 12: A citizen’s petition to transfer all supervision and management of the Town Forest from the Conservation Commission to the Town Manager.
Included among the school district warrant articles are:
Article 2: To raise and appropriate $4,000,000 for renovation and construction to all buildings in the district. This is a bond and requires a 60 percent majority to pass.
Article 3: To raise and appropriate an operating budget for the fiscal year 2014-2015 of $66,240,583, with a default budget of $66,545,528.
Article 8: To raise and appropriate $500,000 to be placed in the School Buildings Maintenance Expendable Trust Fund.
Article 9: To raise and appropriate $100,000 to be placed in the School District Equipment Capital Reserve Fund.
Election results will be posted at www.nutpub.net on Wednesday morning, March 12. Because the Londonderry Times will go to press for its March 13 edition before the polls close on March 11, full election coverage will be included in the March 20 edition.