Anti SB2 letter wrong on facts

A letter writer from Sanbornton wrote a letter published in Friday’s edition of your paper regarding SB2 and asking voters to turn it down. The “facts” stated in the letter are completely erroneous. She said that voters in Sanbornton have a “chance to affirm our town meeting form of government by rejecting SB2.” False.  SB2 is a form of Town Meeting that separates discussion from voting. That’s all. She goes on to state that “SB-2 includes the idea of holding debate and amending warrant articles on one night and then voting on these warrant articles a week or two later.”  False. All warrant articles are discussed and amended during the Deliberative Session. Voting on those articles takes place 30 days later during Election Day. Voters now have 30 days to review and understand articles. During Town Meetings, the amendments are coming at the participants in such a manner that may be confusing and not well understood. Voters need to make a rapid decision without time to review the issues. She also stated that “Officials from other towns tell of having articles amended beyond recognition the first night resulting in an uninformed electorate voting on those articles at the later second meeting.”. False again. There have been few incidents of this occurring.  In fact the opposite is true. The sky is not falling due to SB2. The reality is that no school districts and only three (3) towns have rescinded SB2. Of those  towns, two (2) were tiny with budgets less than $500,000.  Lastly, many votes are disenfranchised by Town Meetings as they cannot get there due to work, illness or even military service. Under SB2 their votes count. A vote for SB2 is a vote for more inclusive participation in local government. The only change under SB2 is when and how you vote. Everything else remains the same.

Paul Punturieri

Moultonborough

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