Caucus for Town Offices – 3/1/21 at 7pm

Town Caucus is Monday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at the town hall.

Positions open for nomination are: Board of Assessors for three years, Board of Health for three years, Select Board member for three years, Cemetery Commissioner for three years, Library Trustee for three years, Moderator for three years, Municipal Light Plant Board for three years, Planning Board for five years, School Committee for three years, Tree Warden for three years and Water Commissioner for three years .

Incumbents seeking re-election are: Bret Hartley for Board of Health, Stephen Jemiolo for Cemetery Commissioner, Mary Kronholm for Library Trustee, David Hopson for Moderator, Kim Bergland for Municipal Light Board, and Mark Boomsma for Tree Warden.

Eric McVey has announced he will not seek re-election to the Select Board but might be interested in running for the slot on the Board of Assessors.

Michele Crane will not seek re-election for the School Committee, but says there may be someone interested.

There are also positions up for nomination as Fence Viewer for three years, and David Chaffee holds the job currently, and a second Fence Viewer slot for two years and Field Driver is open for three years as well.

Historically, or traditionally if you prefer, these latter posts as Fence Viewer and Field Driver have been thought of as more or less honorary positions for new residents to introduce them to town.

Town Election Results

There are 967 registered voters. There were 781 ballots cast from early voting, absentee ballots (there were two) and in-person voting on Tuesday.

Blandford’s certified, and now audited results are official:

President Donald Trump took 455 votes to 307 for Joseph Biden; teams Hawkins and Walker had one vote while Jorgensen and Cohen had 13. There were six blank votes for the electors of the president and vice president.

Sen. Edward Markey had 283 votes to Kevin O’Connor’s 452 and write-in candidate Shiva Ayyadurai had 19. Congressional Rep. Richard Neal had 464 votes, he was unopposed, as were Councilor Mary Hurley with 471, State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli with 470 and State Sen. Adam Hinds with 456.

Lori Landers-Carvalho took 396 votes to Rosemary Saccomani’s 289 for Register of Probate.

Election Notice for November 3

You have received the post card from the USPS regarding “vote by mail” recommending you start the process early. If you wish to vote by mail, you are strongly encouraged to return your application as early as possible, to make sure that you will receive your ballot in time to return it and have it be counted.

Secretary of State Galvin’s office is required to send a second round of applications for the general election by Sept. 14 to all registered voters who haven’t already requested a mail-in ballot.

The Town Clerk will have ballots for November 3 as scheduled by the Secretary of State, by October 9. Mailing ballots out will begin on Tuesday, October 13.

Ballots may be returned by mail, in person, or dropped in the secure gray box outside the entrance to the town offices.
You may vote early, in person, on Saturday or Sunday, October 17, 18 or 24, 25. Saturday hours are 10 a.m. to noon and Sunday hours are 3 to 5 p.m. The last early voting session in Blandford is Thursday, Oct. 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. All early voting will be at the town offices.

You may also vote in person during the regular Town Clerk office hours on Monday, October 19 or 26 from 5 to 7 p.m.

If you’ve already mailed back your ballot and it was accepted by the election office, it’s too late to vote in person.

However, if you didn’t mail back your ballot or it hasn’t been received yet, you should be able to vote in person.

For a November 3 Election ballot, either Vote by Mail or Absentee, your application must reach the town clerk’s office no later than October 28.

Please be aware that it may take as long as five days for a ballot to reach you by mail, so do plan ahead.

If you are not already a registered voter in Blandford, The deadline to register to vote for the November 3 election is Saturday, October 24 at the town clerk’s office, 2-4 and 7-8 p.m.

The November 3 election is at the town offices from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Safety precautions will be in place; masks are requested and can be provided; hand sanitizer, distanced voting spaces which will be sanitized after every use, and Plexiglas shields where necessary.

Vote by Mail applications are available for download here.