Future of polling in Rye up for debate

"The way residents meet to make decisions on the biggest issues facing their town could change next month.

Crafted in 1995 as an alternative to the traditional town meeting format, Senate Bill 2 was eventually embraced by more than 60 towns across the state. Where the town meeting provided an open forum for residents to debate and vote the same day, SB2 established a townwide deliberative session to discuss and potentially amend warrant articles in early February, followed by the casting of secret ballots in March.

The change allowed for absentee ballots and changed the landscape, but dissatisfaction with the measure has grown in recent years. Rye is among towns mulling a change back to the old format. Proponents of keeping SB2 argue that it is more democratic and affords voters more time to get to know the issues, while detractors say there is poor interest and attendance at deliberative sessions and the monthlong pause between the sessions and voting can lead to confused or uninformed."

Read more at Seacoast Online.