Which candidates and what issues are on the ballots?
In both towns, voters will mark their choices for President of the United States, US senator, representative in US congress, state senator, state representative and, in uncontested races for both Granby and East Granby, registrars of voters.
Additionally, Granby residents will vote on two local questions. Voters in Granby will choose whether or not to approve a number of revisions to the town charter by voting yes or no on two independent questions (a voter could, for example, choose "No" on question one and "Yes" on question two):
1) The first question asks Granby voters to approve or reject all changes to the town charter proposed by the town's charter revision commission excluding the adoption of an automatic referendum to approve the town's budget each year.
Vote "Yes" if you are in favor of the revisions, vote "No" if you oppose them.
Significant changes include:
- Implementing a mechanism allowing for town officials, in specific, severe, narrowly tailored emergencies, to access emergency funding of up to 3 percent of the tax levy (currently about $900,000). The severe storm in October 2011 that prompted the inclusion of this measure would not have triggered the emergency provision included in the charter revision, according to commission chairman Fran Brady.
- Allowing the Planning & Zoning Commission to have two alternates to provide it with flexibility to act in a timely manner.
- Eliminating a section in the charter that prohibits town employees from holding public office. That section is in contravention to state law.
The official language of the question: "Shall the proposed amendments to the Charter, excluding the proposed amendments to Sections 10-5(b), 10-5(c), 10-5(d), 10-5(e), 11-1 and 11-3 (the excluded sections having to do with the adoption of the annual town budget by automatic referendum), be approved and adopted?"
2) The second question asks Granby voters to approve or reject changes to the town charter proposed by the town's charter revision commission specifically relating to the adoption of an automatic referendum to approve the town's budget each year. The automatic, all-day, machine-counted referendum will replace the current town meeting format for budget approval.
Vote "Yes" if you are in favor of the change to an automatic referendum for budget approval, vote "No" if you want to retain the town meeting format.
The official language of the question: "Shall the proposed amendments to sections 10-5(b), 10-5(c), 10-5(d), 10-5(e), 11-1 and 11-3 (the sections proposing that the annual town budget be adopted by automatic referendum) be approved and adopted?"
PDF files of ballots for both towns are attached to this story, viewable by clicking the thumbnail images in the box at the right side of the beginning of this article.
Where can you vote?
Voters in Granby and East Granby have it easy when it comes to polling places, as both towns have only one voting location.
- Granby: Granby Memorial High School community gym (315 Salmon Brook St., Granby).
- East Granby: East Granby Senior and Community Center (9 Center St., East Granby).
When can you vote?
Like the rest of Connecticut, polls in Granby and East Granby are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Presidential elections often draw the largest voter turnouts and can cause long waits before casting a ballot, so take a moment to plan when you'll head to the polls.
Granby's registrars of voters, Laura A. Wolfe and Maureen F. Wolf, passed along two requests to make the voting process easier for both voters and election workers in Granby and East Granby:
1) Carpool to your town's polling place to mitigate traffic in the area and parking lots full or overflowing with cars.
2) Vote midday to avoid long lines of voters.
"Every town in the state is expecting to have an extremely heavy voter turnout," the Granby registrars wrote in an email to Granby-East Granby Patch.
Are you a registered voter?
Unfortunately, it's too late to register to vote if you haven't already. But you can check to make sure you're all set to cast a ballot Tuesday — or, at the very least, save a fruitless trip to the polls if you aren't registered. Use the Connecticut Secretary of the State's voter registration look-up service:Follow this link to check your voting status.
