FREEDOM â While the COVID-19 pandemic made town voting day a bit different for towns that kept to their traditional schedule, residents who went to the polls in Freedom, Eaton, Ossipee and Wolfeboro cast some interesting ballots.
In Freedom, incumbent selectman Alan Fall trailed the front-runner by five votes after tallies were announced on Tuesday night.
âWe did an instant recount immediately, while the counting crew was assembled,â said Town Clerk Libby Priebe. âMelissa Florio was declared the winner.
Three candidates vied for the three-year selectmanâs seat. Florio, a local business owner who vied unsuccessfully for a seat last year, took top honors with 223 votes, followed by Fall with 218, and Robert Rafferty, eight.
BARTLETT â Candidates for town and school offices will have more time to campaign this election season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While voting normally takes place in non-SB2 towns on the second Tuesday in March, selectmen in Bartlett plan to take advantage of Gov. Chris Sununuâs Emergency Order No. 83, which allows towns this year to push back town voting and town meetings to as late as July.
Bartlett Selectmen Gene Chandler, Vicki Garland and Gus Vincent voted unanimously Feb. 3 to move the election of officers from March 9 to May 11 at the Glen Fire Station, and to have the annual town meeting on May 13 at the Josiah Bartlett Elementary School.
BARTLETT â The Bartlett School Board voted Tuesday to move forward with plans for an in-person annual school meeting next month, but it will look a little different than previous meetings.
Board members voted unanimously to proceed with annual school meeting on Tuesday, March 2 at 6:30 p.m. in the Donald K. Howard Gymnasium at Josiah Bartlett Elementary School.
In non-COVID-19 years, the annual school and town meetings, which have historically been held in March, were separated by only a handful of days.
Gov. Chris Sununu signed an emergency order on Jan. 22 giving towns leeway in planning their annual town and school district meetings, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.