Voter participation will drop if Sanbornton adopts SB-2

To The Daily Sun,

Sanbornton again sees SB-2 as a replacement for traditional Town Meeting come before it as a choice — it will be on the March 12 ballot, put there by petition signatures. We’ve defeated SB-2 13 times, more times than any other New Hampshire town.

We live in a town where it’s best if we participate — because official duties get fulfilled and our input is appreciated, because we spend tax dollars on town needs. Maybe because we like or even love our town.

Looking at a Feb. 21, 2017, Laconia Citizen article, about Shaker Regional School District Meeting and SB-2 discussion, the predictable shows up. The SB-2 split of a deliberative session/meeting — without votes happening and a month later voting happening — causes complaints. A voter has a ballot to mark but may have missed the discussion of the deliberative session/meeting the month earlier. Or, another complaint: someone engaged at the deliberative session/meeting must wait a month to then vote.

With traditional Town Meeting the deliberating by the large group is accompanied at the same meeting by the voting.

On Wednesday night, March 13, we might be led by our good Moderator Tim Lang in a voice vote, a ballot-paper held aloft vote, or a secret ballot. The secret ballot takes longer because the poll remains open a set time, but privacy is assured and if an official count is needed, that happens. We do voting after discussion. This year Article 1, needing a 2/3 vote to pass, will need a ballot vote. (Article 1 is a “Bond for Construction” article.)

I await to read the reasons the SB-2 petitioners share. It’s a serious decline in citizen participation that happens in other towns with SB-2. Your vote against SB-2 again will be a vote FOR civic participation in Sanbornton's important decisions.

Lynn Rudmin Chong

Sanbornton