Town Meeting Day Articles - Q & A 1

In this post Jericho Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee addresses some of the questions you've sent us regarding these 2024 articles:

ARTICLE VI Shall the Town adopt all budget articles by Australian Ballot?
ARTICLE VII Shall the Town adopt all Public questions by Australian Ballot?

How Can I Vote on These Articles?

You must vote in-person, on the floor during Town Meeting, March 5th, held at MMU. Town Meeting begins at 9 am. It is difficult to predict when Articles VI and VII will come up for the vote. Since Jericho's charter does not allow for Australian ballot for these types of questions, you will need to be presence at the time for the floor vote and have your voice heard.

Please note, this floor vote will decide if Jericho moves Australian ballot next year. It is not an just an advisory vote or an endorsement of the idea.

What is the role of an informational meeting? Could residents propose an amendment to the budget during the informational meeting and have that amendment included in the Australian ballot?

The role of the informational meeting is to describe, in detail, each line item of the budget that
has been warned. This meeting's goal is to inform residents for voting. Residents can't amend the budget during the informational meeting. The budget cannot be changed after it has been warned and published in the Town Report.

Voting by Australian ballot changes when participation takes place - it does not eliminate it! Residents have the opportunity to participate in the budget building process during its development by attending Select Board meetings. These meetings that are hybrid (via Zoom and in-person), are warned, and open to the public. The Select Board could consider to hold more frequent and earlier budget discussions to encourage residents to participate.

In addition, any resident can get budget and public question placed on the ballot for voting by petitioning the Selectboard. While this requires planning (collecting signatures from voters, lead time to warn ballot articles), it is a tool available to all registered voters to ask their neighbors to vote on matters in the public interest that have not been addressed by the Selectboard.

What Would Make the Informational Meeting Easier to Attend?

The informational meeting can hybrid - held in an in-person location and via Zoom. These meetings will be recorded for viewing on demand. Since there is no voting during an informational meeting, everyone will have the opportunity to vote via Australian ballot on Town Meeting Day.

For more Frequently Asked Questions and other information, please visit:
https://jerichovt.org/diversity-equity-inclusion

Please email DEIchair@jerichovt.gov to share your questions, thoughts, and feedback.