By Jodi Wolfe
Staff Writer

Throughout New Hampshire, one hears debates on SB2 vs. Town Meeting format. Each year there are efforts to accept or throw out ballot voting due to declining attendance at meetings.

Official ballot voting, commonly referred to as SB2 for the Senate bill that proposed the law, divides the traditional Town Meeting into two parts: the deliberative session of Town Meeting or School District Meeting, and actual voting. It is officially RSA40:13 in the state statutes.

The difference between them
During traditional Town Meeting or School District Meeting, voters discuss each warrant article, make amendments to the articles if they choose, and then vote to approve or not before moving onto the next article.

With the deliberative session of Town Meeting or School District Meeting, the only difference is that decisions on approval must wait for ballot voting on Election Day. Voters attend a meeting almost identical to the traditional Town Meeting about a month before voting day to discuss each warrant article and make amendments. Discussion of the merits of an article can also take place, informing those in attendance of the value of an article, though approval must wait for voting on Election Day.

While the intent of warrant articles can't be changed, the dollar value can be. Since articles can be changed to $0, "zeroing-out" a warrant article allows those at the deliberative session to effectively vote down warrant articles they are against without waiting for Election Day voting.

With both official ballot law/SB2 voting and Town Meeting voting, all elected positions are voted on during Election Day.

Dislike of the change
Town officials with both official ballot law/SB2 and Town Meeting formats agree that voter turnout depends on the year and the issues being voted on.

In Bedford, town decisions are made at a traditional Town Meeting while the School District Meeting is done by official ballot law/SB2, which was adopted around 1996.

Ryk Bullock, Bedford's school district moderator, said he doesn't like the law as it's written.

Currently, the official ballot law/SB2 is an "impending disaster," said Bullock, referring to what can happen at the deliberative session.

"Right now you can do literally anything to it, which can defeat the purpose of the original," he said.

The official ballot law/SB2 should be modified at the state level, said Bullock, so that on Election Day voters could have the opportunity to vote on both the original warrant article as well as the modified warrant article. That way, the official ballot law/SB2 would serve its original purpose of allowing more people to participate.

"That makes more sense," he said. "That's fair."

No way, says Bow
In Bow, voters have shot down a petitioned warrant article to adopt the official ballot law/SB2 for the past five years.

During last year's Town Meeting in Bow, about 300 people attended the evening Town Meeting out of 5,137 registered voters, said Sara Swenson, a supervisor of the checklist. About 1,400 voted during Election Day.

"In comparison to the number of registered voters, we don't have a significant number of voters coming to Town Meeting," Swenson said.

There is a larger number during Election Day, she said. "I always felt that a larger monied items should be on the ballot because we have more people come to vote during the day than at night," said

Swenson, a former selectman. "I feel it's a better representation of how townspeople feel about issues if the article is on the ballot."

Low attendance
In Allenstown, where the official ballot law/SB2 was adopted in 1997, approximately 49 registered voters attended last year's deliberative session out of 2,300 voters, according to Town Clerk Ed Cyr. About 25 of those people had to attend because they were town officials, members of the budget committee or department heads, Cyr said.

On Election Day, about 500 people voted.

Before the official ballot law/SB2 was adopted, on average 200 to 300 people out of 1,800 to 2,000 registered voters came to Town Meeting, said Cyr.

"I think it works well if people understand it," said Sandra McKenney, an Allenstown selectman.

"People sometimes don't realize that warrant articles can be amended – including amounts of money – during deliberative sessions, as long as the intent of the article doesn't change," she said.

Many more people now vote since the official ballot law/SB2 has been adopted, but don't necessarily attend the deliberative session, she said. Many people can't attend the meetings if they work on Saturdays or have children in sports, she said.

"Just because people can't be at the elementary school doesn't mean that they aren't concerned," McKenney said. "They just aren't as educated."

This year, with two big construction projects proposed for both the town and school warrants, she predicts many people will attend this year.

Allenstown Selectman Peter Viar said he was a big proponent of the official ballot law/SB2 originally, but he has found that changed format has not been well received.

"Yearly, I'm disappointed (with) the turnout of deliberative session," he said.

In Allenstown, he helped placed a warrant article to rescind the official ballot law/SB2 on the ballot for this March.

"One of my frustrations with SB2 is it allows you to do the same thing, just a different formula," he said. "We are a little stubborn here in New England."

If the official ballot law/SB2 is rescinded, he hopes more people will attend the Town Meeting.

"Some people like SB2, some people like Town Meetings," McKenney said.

More vote at polls
In Weare, the official ballot law/SB2 was adopted approximately 10 years ago.

"Unless there's something really aggressive on the ballot, I think we actually have less people a the deliberative session than the Town Meeting," said Town Clerk Evelyn Connor.

According to Connor, in 1992, approximately 350 out of 3,082 attended the traditional Town Meeting.

In 2002, fewer than 100 people out of 3,900 voters attended the deliberative session of the Town Meeting, while 1,720 voted on Election Day.

Usually about 1,600 vote on election day, Connor said. Both in 1992 and 2002, there were not controversial items on the ballot, Connor said.