This coming Tuesday, March 5th, is Town Meeting Day. The League of Women Voters in the NEK encourages you to participate! You can vote at the polls at the St. Johnsbury School on Tuesday from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., or vote early by visiting the Town Clerk's office in the Welcome Center on Monday. You don't need an excuse to vote early, you can do so just if you feel like it! Voting on or before March 5th is your chance to help choose who will take care of our town and oversee our children's educations; whether to approve our town's proposed general and highway fund budgets and the proposed budget for our schools; whether to provide financial support to organizations which serve our community in different ways. Plan to participate. Your vote is your voice and it will make a difference in shaping the future of our community!

In order to inform yourself before you vote, you can pick up a Town Report at the Post Offices, the Town Clerk's office, the Athenaeum, or NVRH or find a link to it online on St. J's website, www.stjvt.com, on the left of the homepage under "Announcements". You can also see a sample ballot at the above locations, inside the Town Meeting Warning packet there or on St. J's website.

**Another way to prepare yourself before you vote is by attending St. Johnsbury's Town Meeting Information session on Monday, March 4th at 7:30 p.m. at the St. Johnsbury School or by watching it on KATV.

I HIGHLY recommend taking a peek at the sample ballot, to see what you'll be voting on. The Town Report has lots of info and both, as mentioned above, are available around town or online on www.stjvt.com. Just look under "Announcements" on the left side of the homepage, and you'll find a link to the sample ballot and Town Report, also a link to the Town Meeting warning, to information about registration as well as the proposed 2019-2020 municipal budget. Yay, St. J, for making it easy for us to support our town by participating in Town Meeting Day! The Town Clerk's office is one-stop shopping for information like the sample ballot or Town Report, or to register to vote or vote early-- they are very helpful and nice, so don't be shy: (802)748-4331 townclerk@stjvt.com.

Not sure if you are registered to vote? You can ask Stacy Jewell and her team at the Town Clerk's office (802)748-4331 or townclerk@stjvt.com or check on the Vermont Secretary of State's website on MyVoterPage, https://mvp.sec.state.VT.us/ If you know that you are definitely not registered, you can do so at the Town Clerk's office in the Welcome Center, or online at https://olvr.sec.state.VT.us. And, if you don't register before, you can show up and register at the polls-- for this, you'll need to show that you are a U.S. citizen and a resident of St. Johnsbury if it is your first time registering in Vermont, and just that you are a resident of St. J if you have been previously registered elsewhere in Vermont.

For me, the most difficult part of being a voter is finding the information to make a thoughtful, informed vote. To help you with this, we did two things:
1) I interviewed on KATV the three candidates (Brendan Hughes, Mitchell Jones and Dennis Smith) in the only contested race on the ballot, for two one-year seats on the selectboard. The interviews are available to watch for free anytime on KATV's website www.katv.org so check them out to get to know these candidates. It was a pleasure to chat with them, three of our neighbors here in St. J, who are stepping up to serve our community.
2) I reached out to almost all of the candidates on St. J's ballot to ask them if they would be willing for St. J's voters to contact them directly with questions or just to find out more about them and the position they are running for and everyone I was able to get hold of immediately said "yes". It was a pleasure to talk with all of them, too! Not surprising, since they are our neighbors and they are stepping up in support of our community by offering to help with a variety of tasks around town. Please go ahead and contact them, too, if you'd like. Here's their info (name, position(s) they are running for, contact info)

David Reynolds: School and Town Moderator; davidreynolds2013@yahoo.com
Deane Rankin: School Director; drankin@stjsd.org
Thomas Huntington: School Director; (802)922-3028; thuntington@stjsd.org
Ilene Dickinson: School Director; idickinson@stjsd.org
Kevin Oddy: Selectperson; (802)751-9545; koddy@stjvt.com
Mitchell Jones: Selectperson; thejonesfarmvt@gmail.com
Brendan Hughes: Selectperson; (802)473-6114; Brendan.hughes13@gmail.com
Dennis Smith: Selectperson; (802)751-5536; dsmith@stjvt.com
Stacy Jewell: Town Clerk and Town Treasurer; (802)748-4331; townclerk@stjvt.com
Andrew Dussault: Cemetery Commissioner; (802)748-8394; adussault@stjvt.com
Lauren Jarvi: Cemetery Commissioner; (802)751-8662 or ljarvi@stjvt.com