General Government

Board of Registrars

Elaine A. DiCicco, Chair
Ruth P. Getsick
Shirley S. Osepchuk
Anita S. Tekle, Town Clerk

The four-member Board of Registrars consists of two members from each of the major political parties--three members appointed by the Board of Selectmen, plus the Town Clerk.

Polling Places

In the spring, the Selectmen voted to change the polling location for Precinct 1 to the first floor Conference Room at 141 Keyes Road (Department of Planning & Land Management). The change was made since the private facility used by the Town for Precinct 1 for many years no longer met the standards for handicapped access. With the cooperation of the employees at the Public Works/Planning & Land Management complex, parking and access to the new location was very convenient, and the voters adjusted with very few complaints.

Voter Registration

The Town Clerk's Office continued to utilize the State Voter Registration Information System for voter registration. This system connects Concord with Town Clerk offices across the State to avoid duplication of voter registrations, and allows residents to register to vote or change their address or party affiliation at the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

The campaign to register more voters under age 22 continued during the year, with birthday cards sent out to residents as they reached the voting age of 18. This continues to be a success. At the end of the year, we had a 92% overall Town registration rate, which is up by 3% from 2005. This increase can be mostly attributed to the high interest in the State election in the fall of 2006. Following is a more detailed chart showing the registration rate by age group.

During the year when we encountered petition signers who were not registered voters in Concord (and therefore could not be certified as signers), we mailed voter registration forms to them, resulting in an excellent return. Overall, the Office registered 893 new voters during the year. This represents an overall net increase of eight voters, after deletions of 885. In addition, 180 voters switched parties during 2006, and 301 voters were placed on Inactive Voter status due to either not returning a census form, or information that we received that they no longer live in Concord. We completed the biennial "purge" of the voting list following the November 2006 State Election. In accordance with Massachusetts law, voters who have not completed the Annual Census since 2003, and did not participate in any State or local elections between November 2004 and November 2006 were deleted from Concord's voting list at the end of the year. The number of registered voters by political party and designation is listed elsewhere in this report.

Census

As has been done for the past several years, the Town Clerk's Office printed and prepared the census forms in-house, instead of using an outside vendor. This resulted in a cost savings of about $1,800. The forms were distributed to residents in late December. The January 2006 population per the Town Census was 15,207.

Town Caucus-January 30, 2006

Turnout was modest, with only 60 in attendance. Three candidates were nominated for two positions on the Board of Selectmen. Otherwise, one person was nominated for each vacancy. After low turnouts for the past several years, the Town Clerk conducted a survey of other communities to determine how many still use a caucus for nominating candidates for Town offices. Thirty communities responded positively, with 25 holding non-partisan caucuses, and five holding partisan caucuses. The remaining communities require candidates to submit signed nomination papers (with 50 signatures required). All of the communities which still use a caucus were smaller than Concord, with 25 of those having populations below 10,000.

Town Election-March 28, 2006

There was one contested race for Board of Selectmen at the Annual Town Election. In addition, there was a debt exclusion vote for design funds for a new Willard School. Voter turnout was 34%.

Annual Town Meeting-April 24, 25, 26, May 1 and 2, 2006

The Annual Town Meeting featured 64 Warrant Articles (including 9 submitted by petition) and was attended by 392 registered voters at the first session; 599 at the second; 888 at the third; 365 at the fourth; and 293 at the fifth and last session. During the course of the five nights of Town Meeting, 1,297 different voters were in attendance. An excerpted copy of the Annual Town Meeting minutes is available elsewhere in this Report.

Special Town Election-June 6, 2006

Following the Annual Town Meeting, the Town had a Special Election to address four Proposition 2½ ballot questions. The ballot included override questions for Town Government; the Concord Public Schools and the Concord-Carlisle Regional School operating budgets; and a Debt Exclusion question for renovations at Concord-Carlisle Regional School. No tiered questions were included. Voter turnout was by far the lowest it's been for any recent override election, with only 17% participating. All questions passed.

Precinct 1, June 6, 2006. Election Officers Alice Lencioni and Arthur Getsick, Voter Mitch Eckel

State Primary-September 19, 2006

With a hotly contested Democratic race for Governor, interest in the Democratic State Primary was fairly high. Overall voter turnout was 35%, with 4,090 voters participating (94% Democratic ballots and 6% Republican ballots). There were 265 absentee ballots requested. Due to a recent change in State law, Unenrolled voters did not have to complete a change of party form after voting in the Primary, which saved many hours of staff time. Under the revised law, Unenrolled voters (formerly called "Independent") remain as Unenrolled after voting in a Primary.

State Election-November 7, 2006

Voter turnout for the State Election was 72%, which is about the same as recent gubernatorial elections. What was a bit different this year was the high number of absentee ballots requested-890. Participation was distributed among all age groups, with many of the absentee ballots used by college students and former Concord residents living abroad.

The Board is grateful to Rocky Griffin and Warren Nelson, our Election Technicians, who are responsible for the physical setup and troubleshooting on Election Day, and to the dedicated Election Officer staff of 55 regulars and substitutes who worked so diligently during the Town Caucus, Town Election, Annual Town Meeting, Special Town Election, State Primary and State Election.

Nomination Papers/Initiative Petitions

During the year, we certified 167 signatures on nine 2006 Annual Town Meeting petitions; 2,051 signatures on nomination papers for State office candidates; and 253 signatures on 7 different State Initiative Petitions. We were unable to certify 209 additional signatures, either because the individual was not a registered voter at the address provided, or the name or address was not legible. Voters are urged to sign petitions legibly, with the name and address as registered.

The Town Profile of population and voter registration follows and a chart of recent voter turnout follows the election results.