Voting in Franklin on Nov 8, 2022

Voting in Franklin

• The polls are open on election day from 6 AM to 8 PM at the Franklin High School on Oak St
• At the check-In table tell the poll worker your name first, followed by your street number and street name
• If your name does not appear on the list the poll worker will send you to the Town Clerk's table
• To cast your vote in Franklin follow the voting instructions by filling in the oval circle next to the name you wish to vote for. If you need assistance, you may bring someone to assist you or ask a poll worker to provide confidential, non-partisan help

NO political paraphernalia may be displayed within 150 feet of the entrance to the polling location (includes signs, stickers, clothing and lapel buttons).

The map of the 9 precincts for Franklin

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/uploads/2022_precinct_map.pdf

Other information can be found on the Town Clerk's page

https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk

The Election Collection - all the info we have gathered on the local candidates and ballot questions ->  https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/10/election-collection-2022-state-election.html

Voting in Franklin on Nov 8, 2022

Town of Franklin: Tabulator Testing shows ballots will be read properly - 10/26/22 (audio)

FM #873 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 873 in the series. 

This session shares the Tabulator Testing conducted in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building on Wednesday, October 26, 2022. 

Town Clerk Nancy Danello opened the session. Deputy Clerk Dyan Fitzgerald assisted and took over to close the session when Nancy left about 10:30ish for a meeting at the high school to plan for the election setup. 

9 or 10 election workers were sworn in to start the process. Other observers arrived as the process was underway. You can hear the welcomes, and overall instructions, and the various question and answer sections.

The full recording was edited to remove the extraneous conversations, noise, etc. The intent of the recording is to share the tabulator testing process as discussed in the open session. 

What is the tabulator? The tabulator is what most would refer to as the voting machine that reads the ballot and tallies the vote by precinct.

The outline of the steps as described by our Town Clerk is provided. The Early Opening sessions as mentioned did start on Friday, Oct 28 and complete Friday, Nov 4, 2022. The steps of the early opening process are provided in the show notes.

The Early Deposit session is scheduled for Saturday, Nov 5 at Franklin High School. They intend to process all the early ballots on Saturday. If something prevents that, they do have time scheduled on Sunday, if necessary.

Ballots still arriving via mail, election dropbox at the municipal building, etc. will be gathered sometime late Tuesday (Election Day), and transported to the high school for processing.

All results Tuesday are ‘unofficial”. The Town Clerk has a couple of days to back in the office to check all the totals before making them ‘official’ to submit to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.

The show notes include links to the Town Clerk page and other election information.

The edited tabulator testing recording runs about 43 minutes, so let’s listen in.

Audio file ->  https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-873-town-of-franklin-tabulator-testing-10-26-22

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Town Clerk’s page ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk 

Transcript of the audio (except for the intro and closing segments read by me (Steve Sherlock)which are spelled out in the 'show notes' document.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ICGkw21S1u9YOQnitAKsklW6j8A76aM5/view?usp=share_link

Tabulator Testing Process outline  ->  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I525elrG6Vhh_TwidcENERfjoRAEufxf/view?usp=share_link 

Early Opening outline ->  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I6tvfzTROGOl_dFYR5OKi58oCdrNAZBX/view?usp=share_link 

Vote by mail process diagram -> https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/news/vote_by_mail_process.pdf 

Town Clerk podcast episode talking about the voting changes in advance of the Sept State Primary ->

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/07/multiple-updates-discussed-with-town.html

Town Clerk podcast episode talking about the overall election process -> 

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2022/08/nancy-danello-franklin-town-clerk-talks.html

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial. 

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/  or www.franklin.news 

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

Town of Franklin: Tabulator Testing shows ballots will be read properly

You are welcome to observe multiple sessions of the advance removal and deposit of vote by mail ballots for the Nov 8 election

Franklin's Town Clerk Nancy Danello posted the notice of "Notice Of Advanced Removal Of Early Voted Ballots From Envelopes And Advanced Depositing Of Early Voted Ballots" on Oct 13, 2022 announcing multiple sessions to process the State election early returns. While the notification contains some legal terms as required by MA General Law, the notification in "kitchen English" outlines the following.

As there are over 6,000 vote by mail and absentee ballots sent out (and more being requested), to ensure a timely and accurate count on Tuesday, Nov 8, the state outlined a process to enable a secure two-step process of these ballots in advance of election day.

Step 1 - Advanced Removal Of Early Voted Ballots From Envelopes

The vote by mail ballots are returned via mail or directly to the Municipal building drop boxes. The outer white envelope is scanned to acknowledge receipt for tracking by the State system. 

For example, my ballot was dropped into the box at the Town Clerk's window on Tuesday as I went into the School Committee meeting. The ballot tracking shows it was acknowledged as "accepted" on 10/26/22. I dropped it off after their working hours, and they processed it during their next business day. (photo below)

The advance removal session will allow us to watch the brown envelope with the ballot be opened, the ballot itself put in a pile, and the voter system updated to show the voter has proved a ballot. Two people perform this process for each precinct.

There is no actual counting of the votes on the ballot. The ballots are simply piled by precinct for feeding into the voting machines at the next session.

The votes by precinct are stored in ballot boxes and secured in the vault. The security of the process is open to observation by Franklin residents.

There are six sessions scheduled for this advanced opening process:

• Friday, October 28 - 9:00 AM

• Monday, October 31 - 9:00 AM

• Tuesday, November 1 - 9:00 AM

• Wednesday, November 2 - 9:00 AM

• Thursday, November 3 - 9:00 AM

• Friday, November 4 - 9:00 AM

Step 2 - Advanced Depositing Of Early Voted Ballots

On Saturday, Nov 5, the advance processed ballots will be moved by Franklin police detail from the Municipal building vault to Franklin High School where they will be processed in the second step. If the processing is not completed on Saturday, it can be continued on Sunday, Nov 6.

The ballots as opened and processed in Step 1 will be securely transferred from the vault to Franklin High School by a Franklin Police detail.

Each set of ballots separated by precinct will be feed into the voting machines. The voting machine overall tally will be noted but the tape to 'count the votes' will not be run. The second set of memory cards for each machine will be installed and the machines will be ready for processing on election day.

At the end of the session, the memory cards for this deposited process, along with the ballots, will be securely transferred from the High School back to the Municipal building vault by a Franklin Police detail.

Election day

Normal in person voting will take place beginning at 6 AM and complete at 8 PM. The precinct voting totals will be tallied and the machines tapes (with the vote totals for each election position or ballot question) will be manually entered into the election spreadsheet.

The memory cards from the Advance Depositing action on Saturday will be placed into each precinct machine so their totals can be run on the tape. That tape will also be entered into the spreadsheet to help complete the unofficial results. 

There are other steps required by the Town Clerk to create the 'official' results, including cross checking all the totals of votes by precinct. She has three days to complete the process and send the results to the Secretary of the Commonwealth to be part of the State certification process. 

In summary, all ballots are paper, counted and tallied in an observed and secure process to guarantee a fair result. The paper ballots can be audited or recounted as required to ensure the results are what they are.

The Advance Notice document (PDF format)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12Y1239lXnCDqRnTiSVYCmGthnMEgd5f0/view?usp=sharing

The link to the Town Clerk page where it was posted Oct 13, 2022

https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/news/notice-advanced-removal-and-deposit-ballots

Town Clerk link (directly opens up a Word doc)

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/news/notice_of_advanced_removal-deposit_11-8.docx

My vote by mail ballot status

You can check your vote by mail status at this link

https://www.sec.state.ma.us/WhereDoIVoteMA/TrackMyBallot/

You are welcome to observe multiple sessions of the advance removal and deposit of vote by mail ballots for the Nov 8 election

Notice from the Office of the Town Clerk: Ballot/ Tabulator testing will take place August 24, 2022.

Notice from the Office of the Town Clerk: Ballot/ Tabulator testing will take place August 24, 2022.

Notice from the Office of the Town Clerk:

Ballot/ Tabulator testing will take place on August 24th, 2022 at the Franklin Municipal Building in the 2nd floor Municipal Chambers at 9am. This testing is open to the public and all are more than welcome to attend.

Read more

Multiple updates discussed with Town Clerk Nancy Danello in advance of the Sep 6 State Primary -07/26/22 (audio)

FM #833 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 833 in the series. 

This shares my conversation with Town Clerk Nancy Danello and Dyan Fitzgerald, Deputy Town Clerk. We met in the Town Clerk office in the Franklin Municipal Building to discuss the preparation for the State Primary election scheduled for Sep 6, 2022.

We cover the following key topics

• Vote by mail and early voting now permanent per State legislation

• Town Council required to approve the schedule and police detail before each election

• Secretary of the Commonwealth mailed vote by mail cards to registered voters

• “Independent” voters need to check the box for which primary ballot they want (Democrat or Republican, don’t need to make that choice for the November election)

• Early voting schedule being approved by Secretary of the Commonwealth 

• in Town Clerk’s office during normal business hours

• Effectively one week before the Sep 6 primary at FHS

• Absentee ballot applications available now

• State Primary Day - Sep 6, 2022

The show notes include links to the Town Clerk page and other election information.

Our conversation runs about 14 minutes, so let’s listen in to my conversation with Nancy and Dyan. Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-833-town-clerk-updates-on-the-state-primary-election-sep-2022-07-26-22

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Town Clerk’s page ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk 

Register to vote ->   https://www.sec.state.ma.us/OVR/ 

Sample ballots for Sep 6 -> https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/news/state-primary-9-6-2022-sample-ballots

In person early voting schedule for State Primary -> https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/news/state_primary_early_voting_schedule.pdf

9 precincts for Franklin -> https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/uploads/2022_precinct_map.pdf

  

New vote by mail drop off box at Municipal Building ->   https://www.franklinma.gov/town-clerk/news/new-vote-mail-drop-box

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We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial. 

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

For additional information, please visit Franklinmatters.org/  or www.franklin.news 

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

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You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

new vote by mail drop off box at the Municipal Building

Town Council Meeting - 10/20/21 - three audio segments

FM #646-647-648 = This is the Franklin Matters radio show, number 646-647-648 in the series. 

This session shares part of the Franklin, MA Town Council meeting held on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. 

The meeting was conducted in a hybrid format: members of the Town Council and Town Administration personnel, the Police retirement and promotion individuals, along with their guest and family members were in the Council Chambers, some members of the public participated in person, some via the Zoom conference bridge, all to adhere to the ‘social distancing’ requirements of this pandemic period.

I’ve split the just about two hours and forty minutes ( 2:40 total elapsed time) into three (3) logical segments:

• Part 1 -> covers the opening, citizen comments, appointment/swearing in of new firefighter/paramedic and the update on ARPA funding (~54 mins) https://player.captivate.fm/episode/58eae587-351d-46ca-9e11-8f6c5e6523a4
• Part 2 -> covers the Census 2020 data and the reprecincting presentation and Q&A session (~ 40 minutes) https://player.captivate.fm/episode/7e79c518-913e-4002-99b9-1ccce36d5b3e
• Part 3 -> covers the Legislation for Action, Council Comments and meeting close. (~ 52 minutes) https://player.captivate.fm/episode/c578b0eb-36c0-4d2e-bb40-6ea793864b56

The show notes contain links to the meeting agenda. Let’s listen to this segment of the Town Council meeting of Oct 20, 2021

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Agenda document ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/agendas/october_20_2021_town_council_agenda.pdf

Agenda folder ->  https://www.franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda/october-20-town-council-agenda 

My notes from the meeting  -> 

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/10/recap-town-council-approves-creation-of.html

Town Council Quarterbacking session (a short recap with Council Chair Tom Mercer) -> 

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2021/10/town-council-quarterbacking-with-chair.html 

--------------

We are now producing this in collaboration with Franklin.TV and Franklin Public Radio (wfpr.fm) or 102.9 on the Franklin area radio dial. 

This podcast is my public service effort for Franklin but we can't do it alone. We can always use your help.

 

How can you help?

• If you can use the information that you find here, please tell your friends and neighbors

• If you don't like something here, please let me know

Through this feedback loop we can continue to make improvements. I thank you for listening.

 

For additional information, please visit www.Franklinmatters.org   or www.franklin.news 

If you have questions or comments you can reach me directly at shersteve @ gmail dot com

The music for the intro and exit was provided by Michael Clark and the group "East of Shirley". The piece is titled "Ernesto, manana"  c. Michael Clark & Tintype Tunes, 2008 and used with their permission.

I hope you enjoy!

------------------

You can also subscribe and listen to Franklin Matters audio on iTunes or your favorite podcast app; search in "podcasts" for "Franklin Matters"

 

Town Council Meeting - 10/20/21 - three audio segments

Recap: Town Council approves creation of 9th precinct, hears about ARPA funding, and closes out the current term with thanks

Quick Recap:

• Swearing in of Firefighter/Paramedic David Ogilvie
• American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding schedule and plans for initial funds outlined, presentation link with details included
• Some of the Census 2020 population data has been received which leads to a reprecincting process which was explained in detail, bottom line, we go from 8 to 9 precincts, little other impact to Town operations; House representation likely to remain with all of Franklin covered by 10th Legislative district; on the State Senate side where we were split between Senator Spilka and Senator Rausch, Senator Rausch would have all of Franklin. The MA House and Senate districting is still in decision/approval process at the State House. The Franklin precinct plan now goes to the State for review and acceptance
• Three separate measures were approved to increase the minimum wage for the senior workoff program and to increase benefits for veterans as well as disabled veterans
• As this was the last meeting of this Council term, there was a round of remarks and thanks for the past term during Council Comments. The Councilors were cautioned by Town Attorney Mark Cerel about the nature of their comments, attempting to limit them to simply encourage a general get out the vote.
• Also raised during this segment was the issue being made by some residents around the problem with the 2020 September primary. Best quote came from Attny Cerel to summarize the matter "The issues arose under the term of the prior town clerk who resigned"

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As with most meetings in this pandemic period, I took my notes via Twitter during the meeting reporting live from the Council Chambers

The Twitter hashtag can be found online  #tc1020

https://twitter.com/search?q=%23tc1020&src=recent_search_click

Agenda document -  

https://www.franklinma.gov/sites/g/files/vyhlif6896/f/agendas/october_20_2021_town_council_agenda.pdf

Agenda folder -> https://www.franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda/october-20-town-council-agenda 

• Ready for Town Council meeting to begin, by sight of folks in room, might be a little late starting but won't be too long, lots of side discussions going #tc1020
• Agenda doc for tonight's session -> https://franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda/october-20-town-council-agenda…  #tc1020
• meeting opens, Chair Mercer with gavel #tc1020

Citizens Comment

• I stepped up to give brief on the Candidate Forum scheduled for Tu 10/21/21 at 6:30 - live streamed via Franklin TV, Comcast and Verizon -  https://franklinmatters.org/2021/10/candidate-forum-oct-21-2021-forum.html
• Nancy Danello - acting Town Clerk reminds of early voting option this weekend, Sat and Sunday 10/23 - 10/24 from 10 AM to 1:00 PM. #tc1020 (subsequent;y changed to begin at 9 AM both days)
• J Maciel quoting and playing lyrics from country song by Lee Greenwood lots of folks have heard #tc1020

Appointment

• Appointment - David Ogilvie: Fire Department, New Hire introduced by Chief McLaughlin #tc1020

ARPA Funding update

• next 2 presentations, not yet posted to ToF webpage -> https://franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda-items/8-presentationsdiscussions-59…  #tc1020
• was previewed by FinCom last week #tc1020 only town in MA with UV lighting to clean the virus in our air filtration systems FEMA est almost $600K expected but some time in the future.
• big thank you for congressional and state representatives for the State and Federal funds, without them, we'd have been hurting budget wise...  #tc1020
• Norfolk County will doll out the 'county funds' time line and details TBD, they will also take a % to 'process' the funding. #tc1020
• ARPA funds being treated as grants, to be applied for in order to verify the need and justification for the requests. #tc1020 Town well positioned to do clinics now with nurse on staff, and paramedics certified to give the doses.
• Overview slide of projects to utilize the ARPA funds #tc1020 succeeding slides go into more detail (as also shown in FinCom meeting last week)
• the wireless tower will save money (we'd have had to spend anyway) and enable better comms for the Police and Fire folks, they can use backchannel to communicate with each other but in so doing, the MECC is cut out #tc1020
• possible cost sharing with Medway on additional clinician, full amount in our accounting to ensure we get the funding and the service, we can figure out the other details later. #tc1020

Census 2020 data and reprecincting

• next up, Town Clerk and GIS Coordinator update on 2020 census data - re-precinct status #tc1020 also to be posted to this page https://franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda-items/8-presentationsdiscussions-59
• difference between the decennial census and the data collected by the American Community Survey (ACS) - the ACS provides on-going data rather than waiting 10 years. #tc1020
• This slide has the numbers likely to drive the 40b percents #tc1020 the number of housing units increased in the last 10 years
• Difference between redistricting and reprecincting shown in these slides #tc1020
• House representation seems not to change, State district may solidify into one representative vs. split between 2. We go from 8 to 9 precincts but other than that, a minor change overall. #tc1020
• doesn't change anything for this Nov election, would only be effective for Jan 2022 and beyond. The process of voting, precinct finding details can be easily done at the polling place #tc1020
• a mailing to those in precinct 9 will be planned for future; as we are 'at large' there is no effect on the precinct alignment. For those raising Q on potential change to precinct election for Council that would need to be done by charter change and (for me) we aren't ready …
• are ready to operate that way. It is hard enough to gain 'community' with the at large approach, going by precinct would only further divide us. to what end? I see that we are not ready for that yet (my 2 cents) #tc1020 maybe later down the road
• moving on to subcommittee reports; EDC met tonight, info on wayfinding signs and branding #tc1020

Legislation for Action

• legislation for action -> Resolution 21-59: Update of Town’s Voting Precincts (Motion to Approve Resolution 21-59 - Majority Vote) https://franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda-items/10a-legislation-action-54… #tc1020 motion to approve, second, passes 8-0
• Resolution 21-60: Further Amending the Senior Citizen Property Tax Work-off Abatement Program (Motion to Approve Resolution 21-60 - Majority Vote)  https://franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda-items/10b-legislation-action-54… #tc1020 motion to approve, seconded, passes 8-0   Q on minimum wage, by law per rebate process can't be
• Resolution 21-61: Further Amending the Veterans’ Property Tax Work-off Abatement Program (Motion to Approve Resolution 21-61 - Majority Vote) https://franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda-items/10c-legislation-action-46…  #tc1020 motion to approve, seconded, passes 8-0
• Resolution 21-62: Acceptance of G.L. Chapter 59, Section 5C ½ and Increase in Certain Property Tax Exemptions Pursuant Thereto (Motion to Approve Resolution 21-62 - Majority Vote) https://franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda-items/10d-legislation-action-44…  #tc1020 motion to approve, seconded, passes 8-0
• Resolution 21-63: Cable Funds in Support of PEG Service and Programming per MGL Ch. 44, §53F3/4 - $28,000 (Motion to Approve Resolution 21-63 - Majority Vote) #tc1020 standard quarterly transaction motion, seconded, passes 8-0
• Resolution 21-64: Cable Funds in Support of PEG Service and Programming per MGL Ch. 44, §53F3/4 - $28,000 (Motion to Approve Resolution 21-64 - Majority Vote) #tc1020 https://franklinma.gov/town-council/agenda-items/10f-legislation-action-30… motion, seconded, passes 8-0

Town Administrators Report

• Town Administrators report: Garelick all penalties and interest all fully collected for water service, now from Dairy Farmers America - Maple open space has finally closed on docs - #tc1020
• Council comments - Frongillo speaking on Danello situation - Jamie reprises what happened then, coordination with Sec of Commonwealth for the acting appointment - "The issues arose under the term of the prior town clerk who resigned"
• councilor comments encouraging voting on Nov 2; cautioned by Attny Cerel to be cautious on comments regarding the election #tc1020
• Chair, thanks fellow councilors, it has been trying but we have accomplished a lot. #tc1020 thanks to the Town administration etc.  motion to adjourn, passes 8-0  that's all folks!

Audio recording of meeting to be available in couple of days

 

2020 census data - re-precinct status