Voting for elections in Livermore Falls will return to the town office, seen on Friday, March 7, after selectmen on March 4 approved an amendment to the warrant for the town meeting referendum vote scheduled for April 29. Voting had been held at the fire station but changes made at the town office allow voting to return there. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser

LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen on Tuesday night, March 4, approved two amendments to the town meeting warrant that will return voting to the town office and add $5,000 to one article.

There were no questions or comments from the public during a meeting to review the warrant articles for the April 29 town meeting by referendum vote. Voting which was to have been from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the fire station will now be held at the town office.

The warrant will be posted around town, Town Manager Carrie Castonguay noted.

“We are going to be voting here as opposed to the fire station,” Chair William Kenniston said. “That will be something different.”

Selectmen approved the change in voting location and an addition of $5,000 to Article 14. That article now asks voters to appropriate $45,275  from the town’s TIF district for AVCOG dues, one half of a CEO/planner position and a $5,000 donation to the Jug Hill Riders snowmobile club.

Castonguay said she forgot to include the $5,000 for the snowmobile club.

“We did receive word from the Secretary of State’s office that we can do the voting here instead of at the fire station,” she noted.

Town Clerk Doris Austin said she had asked for permission to bring voting back to the town office “now that we are better set up. We have what we need to run the equipment, have more outlets and we have changed our bathroom so that it is handicapped accessible. They had absolutely no problem with us doing this.”

It will make voting easier and simpler, Austin stated. Forms will be completed and sent to Augusta, they will come make sure everything is as it should be for state elections, she added.

Kenniston asked if partitions would be used to direct voters, if they would leave as they came in.

“Yes, they said the same door can be used, so that is not a problem,” Austin noted. “We have stanchions that we can use. We have outlets now for our PS200 machines as well as the booths that have the lights in them. We have enough room so we can be better set up.”

“That seems to be a lot more efficient,” Kenniston said. “You were saying you had to run back and forth for the registry stuff.”

“It is very hard,” Austin noted. “With everything that we have to bring over to the fire station, it’s just you end up forgetting a tape dispenser or a stapler or whatever. You just don’t have everything that we need. We have our ballot drop off box outside and we have to come back over three or four times a day to check that, so it is going to be more efficient.”

Sign up for Franklin Now