Confusion over Tuesday’s unprecedented delay of annual ballot voting continued into Wednesday as several multi-town school districts, including Kearsarge Regional, decided to withhold election results, an action that may not be allowed under state law.
“Our concern is that we have one town and they have not voted yet, so I can’t give you any final figures on the budget or any of the warrant articles,” said Winfried Feneberg, superintendent of the seven-town Kearsarge Regional School District.
Six Kearsarge towns voted Tuesday, but their results are not being released because Wilmot postponed its vote until next Tuesday, March 21.
“I think it just would be premature to put numbers out and have to correct them next week,” Feneberg said.
Kearsarge isn’t alone in doing this. The two-town Souhegan School District in southern New Hampshire has withheld results because one of its towns has postponed voting. And in the four-town Timberlane Regional School District near the Seacoast, two towns have delayed voting, one voted Tuesday and is keeping results under wraps, and one voted Tuesday and has released its results.
This issue came up in the State House on Wednesday as part of a discussion about an emergency bill legalizing town and school district elections postponed by the Tuesday storm. The bill is being considered even as the Secretary of State’s office warned it is premature to pass the measure.
“There may be some issues that are legitimate issues related to an election for a candidate that the candidate may want to challenge,” said Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan, who oversees elections. “There’s no question how things are handled when you have the election on town election day. The minute you move it, all these questions start surfacing.”
Tuesday was the first time in more than 350 years of New Hampshire town meeting history that annual meeting voting was postponed due to bad weather. State law calls for town and school district elections to be held on the second Tuesday in March and offers no guidance on postponement.
Town meetings, as compared to all-day ballot voting for races or SB 2 issues, have often been delayed by weather, which is allowed by state law.
Senate Minority Leader Jeff Woodburn said he proposed the bill to ensure towns that postponed elections could withstand a legal challenge. A Senate committee accepted the bill Wednesday, which still needs to be drafted and have a public hearing.
Scanlan said questions are arising after towns postponed elections, especially around absentee ballots and multi-town school districts.
State law sets a timeline for absentee voting that revolves around the second Tuesday in March, calling into question what happens when the date is postponed.
“Our advice is for the towns to communicate with their town attorney for guidance, because that is the person who is going to defend the actions,” Scanlan said.
“We discussed it with a variety of people,” including the school district moderator and school board clerk, Feneberg said. “Certain towns had legal advice from their town attorneys not to release it.”
Feneberg added that he was surprised at the lack of precedent.
“This is New Hampshire. You’d think this would have happened before,” he said.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313 or dbrooks@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @GraniteGeek. Allie Morris can be reached at 369-3307 or amorris@cmonitor.com.)
