Brunswick has delayed its next election after the secretary of state made the atypical decision to deny the town’s request to change polling sites.
The election for the school budget referendum vote will be held Tuesday, June 20, at the Brunswick Junior High School. The election was originally slated for June 13 at the recreation center on Neptune Drive, but Secretary of State Shenna Bellows denied the Town Council’s attempt to switch polling sites to the rec center.
Citing safety concerns, the Brunswick School Department was prepared to switch to a remote learning day June 13 if the election went on as planned. The last day of school is June 15, so students won’t be there June 20.
“That way, there will be no conflict,” Town Manager John Eldridge said Thursday. “Thank you for the school for working with us to get that rescheduled.”
Since many residents were under the impression elections will be held at the recreation center going forward after the council in September voted to move the polls, Town Clerk Fran Smith said town staff will send out 14,000 mailers to let residents know the election will instead be held June 20 at the junior high school.
“We’re trying to do the best to educate our voters,” Smith said.
Councilors who voted for the polling site switch argued the recreation center is bigger, has more parking, is easier for older adults to access and won’t disrupt the school day. By state law, the relocation of any polling locations must be approved by the secretary of state — and in a rare move, Bellows denied the council’s request, writing in a letter that the junior high is centrally located and near the high school and Bowdoin College, increasing “the ease of voting for first-time voters and younger voters, a population that is traditionally underrepresented in voter turnout.”
She added, “Because the move would likely result in some traditionally marginalized voters, particularly people who are low income or unhoused, having more difficulty voting or not being able to vote on Election Day, I must reject your request to move the polling place.”
Voting will be held from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on June 20. Residents can request absentee ballots through the town clerk’s office, and they will be mailed out when the council approves the school budget plan May 22.
The school department’s $52.9 million budget plan represents a 7.1% increase in spending over the current fiscal year. Superintendent Phil Potenziano said the increase is primarily due to higher staff salaries and benefits, higher utility costs, higher special education services costs, previously federally funded positions that are gradually being moved into the local budget, and an anticipated enrollment increase of about 100 students from asylum-seeking families.
If the school budget plan is approved as is, it would raise property taxes by 4.8%. That means for a house assessed at $300,000, property taxes would rise by $312.
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