Annual Town Election Update: “Absentee Voting” (early, in-person) is open (Updated)

Above: A look at the options for voting in Tuesday’s election. (images L-R by Susan Fitzgerald, Jim Hegarty, and Beth Melo)

The Annual Town Election takes place in six days. Here’s a reminder of the details, new info on Absentee voting (iincluding voting today), plus links to the candidates’ letters to the public.

Voting

The polls will be open for the Annual Town Election on Tuesday May 13 from 6:30 am to 8:00 pm. As usual, all three precincts will vote in the Trottier Middle School’s Gym at 49 Parkerville Road.

I just learned that for those who can’t make it for one of the following reasons, there is an early, in person option for absentee voting for voters who:

• Will be out of town on the day of the election, or
• Have a medical issue preventing them from attending, or
• Have a religious belief preventing them from attending

If one of the above applies to you, you can vote at the Town House during the following hours:

• Today, Wednesday, May 7th from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
• Thursday, May 8th from 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
• or Monday, May 12th from 8:00 am – noon

For other voters, the deadline passed for applying to receive a vote by mail ballot. But, if you already got your mail-in ballot and haven’t returned it, make sure to get it in by the end of voting.¹:

• If you’re too far away to drop it off in person — it’s already dicey sending it by mail, but you might be successful in getting it there in time. So act now!
• If you can drop it in person before (or early on) election day:
  • Drop it directly in the Town Clerk’s election Ballot Drop Box at the Town House, 17 Common Street. (See image right.)
  • DO NOT use the Town’s other drop-box for other documents. 
  • And DO NOT bring your mail-in ballot to Trottier on Tuesday. (If you decide to vote in person instead, just leave the mail-in ballot at home.)

If you have any questions, please reach out directly to the Town Clerk’s office at 508-485-0710, ext. 3005. (Note: The Town Clerk may not be reachable on Friday, since he’ll be setting up for Saturday’s Special Town Meeting. You’ll have a better chance reaching him during the above Absentee Voting hours.)

And if you’re looking for info on voting in the Special Town Meeting this Saturday, click here.

Now for more on what you’re voting on. Reminder, tomorrow night is. . .

Candidates Night

The Library’s annual pre-election forum is on Thursday, May 8th at 6:30 pm at the Southborough Library. The event is hosted by the Trustees of the Southborough Library. It will start with a Meet & Greet and light refreshments. (All candidates, even uncontested ones, and voters are invited to participate.)

From 7:00 – 8:00 pm, there will be a Q&A with the candidates for the Select Board, moderated by Trustee Janet Maney.

Candidates Statements

And speaking of the Select Board, all three candidates running for the two seats have submitted their letters/statements pitching why votes should choose them. Click on the links below (or to pull up all of them, click here.)

• Kathy Cook (incumbent)
• Tim Fling (challenger)
• Sam Stivers (incumbent)

The two residents are running for the 1 year seat on the Southborough School Committee have also submitted their letters:

• Denise Eddy (on the ballot)
• Diane Romm (write-in candidate – include 77 Pine Hill Rd)

(They weren’t included in the Library’s moderated event because the race isn’t an official one on the ballot. The write-in campaign announcement came after the event was planned.)

Also on the Ballot

The ballot will ask voters to pass a proposition 2½ debt exclusion (not override) to allow funding the Neary Building Project.² The specific language is:

Shall the Town of Southborough be allowed to exempt from the provisions of Proposition two-and-one-half, so called, the amounts required to pay for the bonds issued in order to pay costs of designing, constructing, reconstructing and equipping the Margaret A. Neary School, located at 53 Parkerville Road Southborough, Massachusetts, to be used as a new four grade school, including the payment of all costs incidental or related thereto?

I wrote up an overview of the project with updated tax impacts (and financial details behind them) plus other aspects being publicly debated here. (For past and future coverage, and related letters to the editor, click here.)

And below is the list of other candidates on the ballot. They are all uncontested but will still be looking for voters to show their support!

Board of Assessors – 3 Years
Jeffrey W. Klein (Candidate for Re-election)

BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS of TRUST FUNDS – 3 Years
Nicolas A. Mccoy (Candidate for Re-election)

Board of Health – 3 Years
Safdar Medina (Candidate for Re-election)

Board of TRUSTEES LIBRARY – 3 Years (Vote For Two)
Marguerite H. Landry (Candidate for Re-election)
Janet M. Maney (Candidate for Re-election)

Housing Authority – 5 Years
John M. Wood (Candidate for Re-election)

Moderator – 1 Year
Paul M. Cimino (Candidate for Re-election)

Northborough -Southborough Regional School Committee (Northborough Seat) – 3 Years
Joan Galla Frank (Candidate for Re-election)

Northborough -Southborough Regional School Committee (Southborough Seat) – 3 Years
Matthew J. Spencer (Candidate for Re-election)

Planning Board – 5 Years
Alan S Belniak

Southborough School Committee – 3 Years
Roger W. Challen (Candidate for Re-election)

Updated (5/12/25 9:53 am): In the body of the story, I had accidentally inserted a photo I took in April of the ballot box instead of the updated one that I received from the Town Clerk (and used in the cover).

1. Unlike in statewide elections, Towns aren’t given leeway to count Town election ballots postmarked by election day and received later.
2. Updated (5/9/25 10:18 am): I initially referred to the ballot question as an override vote, which is incorrect. I thought an override and debt exclusion were the same thing. But last night, someone alerted me to the difference. An override would allow a permanent raising of the increase that would continue even after the debt was paid down. This vote is to specifically exclude this debt for the 33 years it would take to pay it off. You can read more about the difference on the state’s website here.