The Town Election scheduled for June 29 is on track to proceed as scheduled, even if Town Meeting were to eventually get pushed back until September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If Town Meeting does get delayed again and there are items from Town Meeting that require a ballot vote, an additional election could be scheduled in the fall, Town Manager Norman Khumalo said at Tuesday night’s Select Board meeting.

Select Board member Brian Herr questioned how Town Election could be held in June while keeping people safe amid social distancing directives.

Town clerk Connor Degan said the key is mail-in voting. He suggested the Select Board reduce the hours the polls will be open in part to encourage mail-in voting and minimize people appearing in person.

“Absentee voting has been expanded to include people who are at risk or concerned about their risk for contracting COVID-19 at places like the polls, where they are public,” he explained. “[Additionally,] early voting has been reintroduced as an emergency measure by mail so that people don’t need any excuse to have a ballot mailed to them and then mail it back to us and we’ll process it at the polls instead.”

Degan noted that if someone has an absentee ballot and does not get it mailed in time to arrive by June 29, they could bring it to the polls that day and drop it off there.

The form to request an absentee ballot can be accessed here.

For more from Tuesday’s Select Board meeting, click here for an update on the COVID-19 situation and click here for an update on the Main Street Corridor Project.