Have you always wanted to be a supervisor of the checklist? School district treasurer? Cemetery trustee?
If so, get cracking. The 10-day filing period for town and school offices closes Friday.
Elections are part of the annual town meeting season, which kicks into gear Saturday with the start of deliberative sessions in town halls and schools around New Hampshire.
In Greater Concord, 23 towns or school districts operate under SB 2 town meeting, which means items such as budgets and warrant articles are discussed at deliberative sessions in February, but voted on, by ballot, later. Most vote on traditional election day, March 13.
This includes the Henniker School District, which switched to SB2 this year. Its deliberative session will be Feb. 5, starting at 7 p.m. at the Henniker Community School.
This was the only community in the state to make this change in 2017, a sign of how the spread of SB2, which was created in 1995, has slowed. Statewide, 80 school districts and 64 towns operate under SB2, roughly one-third of the total.
The region’s remaining towns and school districts use traditional annual meeting schedules, where items are discussed and voted on, usually through a show of hands, by people who show up at the meeting. These meetings are generally scheduled in the weeks around March 13.
No matter whether SB2 or traditional meeting, however, the second Tuesday in March is the day that almost all towns and school districts cast ballots for local offices – some as high-profile as selectman, school board member or meeting moderator, and some as obscure as library trustee or overseer of welfare.
The one local anomaly to this schedule is Merrimack Valley School District, which will hold its annual meeting on Thursday, March 8, and also has all-day polling for offices on that day, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Cities such as Concord and Franklin do not follow town meeting schedule; their elections are in November.
Signing up as a local candidate is a lot easier than getting on the presidential primary ballot. Just head down to the office of your local town clerk or school district clerk and put your name down. In some communities you can register for school district offices at town hall.
Sometimes clerks charge a dollar or two as a filing fee, but generally they only require evidence that you’re a registered voter, so bring some ID and sign up for whichever office strikes your fancy.
The following local municipalities that use the SB 2 town meeting system will hold deliberative sessions in February.
Allenstown:
Allenstown School District:
Belmont:
Danbury:
Deerfield:
Deerfield School District:
Epsom:
Epsom School District:
Gilford:
Gilford School District:
Gilmanton:
Gilmanton School District:
Henniker School District:
Hillsboro-Deering School District:
John Stark School District:
Newfound School District:
New Hampton:
Northwood:
Northwood School District:
Shaker Regional School District:
Weare:
Weare School District:
The deadline to file to run for an elected position is Feb. 2 at 5 p.m. Ballot voting on amended warrant items and elected positions will be held on March 13.
