What to Expect at Town Meeting

When Sudbury’s Annual Town Meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 5, in the Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School auditorium, here’s how it works.

Only Sudbury registered voters are eligible to vote at Town Meeting. The deadline to register to vote before Town Meeting is Friday, April 25, at 5 p.m. Check your voter registration status or register to vote here.

You must be present at Town Meeting to vote. There is no remote or absentee voting. The Town website notes that: “Absentee voting is possible during elections, which use ballots as the voting mechanism. There are no ballots at a Town Meeting as motions are made on the floor of Town Meeting and may differ from the article presented in the warrant. Thus, Town Meeting votes must be taken in person.”

To get to the high school auditorium, 390 Lincoln Rd., park in the lot east of the school and follow the walkway down the small hill. Enter the building through the doors directly in front of you.

Voter check-in is in the hallway as you enter the building. Votes are taken at Town Meeting using an electronic handheld clicker. You must check in to receive the clicker that will allow your vote to be recorded.

The clicker has two buttons: one for a “yes” vote and one for a “no” vote. All votes taken at Town Meeting will be “yes” or “no” votes in favor of or against the approval of each article.

Check-in staff can demonstrate how to use the clicker, and the Moderator will review the voting procedures and offer a practice question with the clicker prior to the start of article voting. You can find additional information about the clickers on page iii of the Warrant.

Every household in Sudbury should have received a paper copy of the Town Meeting Warrant by U. S. mail, and a digital copy is available here. The Moderator will follow the order of the Warrant. Each article will be debated and voted on in turn, with the exception of articles on the Consent Calendar. The articles on the Consent Calendar are ones “that appear to raise no controversy,” according to the Warrant. Articles on the Consent Calendar, found on pages viii-xi of the Warrant, will be voted on as a group as the first order of business, without debate. Any article may be removed from the Consent Calendar at the request of at least seven voters.

Among the issues that will be decided at Town Meeting are town and school budgets, rules for accessory dwelling units, renovation of the Atkinson pool, a new start time for Town Meeting, roof replacement at Haynes and Nixon schools, financing a new reading curriculum, purchase of a fire engine and ambulance, and renovation of the Hosmer House.

The meeting will be broadcast live on SudburyTV. The internet livestream can be viewed on a computer, smartphone, or other device at sudburytv.org by scrolling down and clicking on the Government or HD livestream. A cable subscription is not needed to view the livestream. Cable TV subscribers can tune in on Comcast channels 8 and 1074 and Verizon channels 31 and 2130.

Information about accessibility accommodations for Annual Town Meeting can be found on the Town webpage and on pages i and ii of the Warrant.

This year’s Town Meeting begins Monday, May 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the auditorium of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, 390 Lincoln Rd., and is expected to run to at least 10:30 p.m. Town Meeting is likely to continue Tuesday, May 6, and may continue Wednesday, May 7, and Monday, May 12, if necessary.  Basic information about Annual Town Meeting is available on pages iv-viii of the Warrant. You can learn more about town meetings in the Citizen’s Guide to Town Meeting and here.