Hardwick Board of Selectmen Opts Out of Vote-by-Mail

[00:00:01] 50:1 on March 19th I will open this
[00:00:04] board of selectman's
[00:00:06] meeting and now I will open the public
[00:00:10] recording in progress I'm sorry I will
[00:00:13] open the public hearing and turn it over
[00:00:16] to the town
[00:00:20] clerk well I thank you Mr chairman
[00:00:25] sorry you okay I'm sorry I'm sorry uh um
[00:00:30] Rob is just trying to get in I just want
[00:00:32] to unmute him
[00:00:35] him I'm in great can you hear me great I
[00:00:41] can hear Robert
[00:00:45] yep I can as well Mr whitkus if you
[00:00:49] would continue please and explain what
[00:00:51] we here why we're
[00:00:54] here okay thank you Mr chairman uh we
[00:00:57] are here to discuss opting out of vote
[00:01:01] by mail for our Saturday May 4
[00:01:06] 2024 annual election uh the Mass General
[00:01:10] law allows um the board to vote to opt
[00:01:15] out of the provisions of the of the
[00:01:17] section uh that pertains to voting by
[00:01:20] mail for the municipal election if there
[00:01:23] were a uh senate or representative race
[00:01:26] we on the ballot at the same time we
[00:01:27] would not be able to given the fact that
[00:01:31] we have no races in our um on our
[00:01:36] ballot it seems prudent that we should
[00:01:40] do so because otherwise I will have to
[00:01:42] send out close to 300
[00:01:45] ballots um I'm all in favor of people
[00:01:49] being able to vote and this does not
[00:01:50] take away their right to uh absentee
[00:01:53] vote if they are going to be out of town
[00:01:56] uh or admitted to a hospital or if they
[00:01:59] religious belief
[00:02:00] prevent them from vot voting at the
[00:02:02] appropriate time so absentee voting is
[00:02:04] still available for this election but it
[00:02:06] requires a public that you have um
[00:02:10] called uh and any comments to be heard
[00:02:13] and then a recorded Voice vote or excuse
[00:02:16] me a recorded vote of your board in
[00:02:18] order to opt out and I do believe I sent
[00:02:20] the motion to you and I would ask that
[00:02:24] after you have heard comments uh that I
[00:02:27] would recommend that we vote to opt out
[00:02:29] of vote by mail for the 2024
[00:02:34] election thank you sir um I would look
[00:02:37] for comments from my fellow
[00:02:42] Selectmen I don't have any problems with
[00:02:45] opting out of
[00:02:49] this Mr Ruggles I I concur I concur with
[00:02:53] that I I can't
[00:02:55] see wasting a lot of time and money on
[00:02:58] this
[00:03:00] yeah okay thank you uh do are there any
[00:03:04] comments or questions from the
[00:03:10] public maybe ask them to raise their
[00:03:12] hand Eric if they do and we can
[00:03:15] acknowledge them yes please be uh uh be
[00:03:19] known if you have something to say give
[00:03:21] it a
[00:03:28] minute
[00:03:32] nobody's raising their
[00:03:34] hand okay I will uh close this public
[00:03:38] hearing at
[00:03:41] :5 at 05 and I would now like to call
[00:03:45] for a vote uh from the board of
[00:03:47] Selectmen on this uh issue to um let uh
[00:03:54] mail in ballots skip this
[00:03:57] election Mr chairman I do have
[00:04:00] I do have the verbiage here that I would
[00:04:02] like to just recite for you and if
[00:04:03] someone uh would adopt that as a motion
[00:04:06] that would certainly cover us thank
[00:04:09] you okay the motion that I'm proposing
[00:04:12] that your board adopt is I move the
[00:04:14] select board board of selectman vote to
[00:04:16] opt out of the provisions of chapter
[00:04:20] 54 subsection
[00:04:22] 25b Clause a subclause one for the town
[00:04:27] of Hardwick's annual election being held
[00:04:29] on Saturday May 4
[00:04:34] 2024 I would make a motion as read by
[00:04:37] Ryan
[00:04:40] wos I will second
[00:04:43] that all in
[00:04:45] favor Kelly Kemp hi Eric
[00:04:49] valheim yes okay
[00:04:54] yes thank
[00:04:55] Youk you thank you all for coming and I
[00:04:59] would seek a motion to adjourn make a
[00:05:02] motion to
[00:05:04] adjourn second okay that's two seconds
[00:05:08] all in favor i k i Eric valheim
[00:05:14] I thank you all thank you