How to vote in Wellesley’s March 2nd annual town election

Wellesley’s Annual Town Election will take place on March 2, 2021.

The town has 11 Boards and Committees elected each year. The seats on these boards are staggered so that one or two seats are elected each year for 3-year terms (Planning and Housing are 5-year terms).

Wellesley also has a representative Town Meeting for 240 members elected by voting precinct. Town Meeting Members have staggered three year terms, so 10 are elected each year from each precinct. Town Meeting is expected to begin April 26, 2021 and will continue weekly until voting on operating budgets, capital expenditures and bylaws for the town is complete.

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Are you registered to vote?

All registered Wellesley voters may vote in the Annual Town Election. If you are not registered to vote or are not sure if you are registered to vote in Wellesley, check the Secretary of State’s website. If you are not registered, the deadline to register to vote in the Annual Town Election is February 10, 2021.

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Ways to cast your vote in Wellesley

Vote by mail: Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, all voters may request a mail-in ballot.

To vote by mail, fill out the mail-in ballot application that was included in the town census survey sent via the United States Postal Service to each Wellesley household during the first two weeks of January.

The mail-in ballot application may also be downloaded.

Complete and sign the ballot application form and return it to the Town Clerk’s office in one of the following ways:

• email at [email protected]
• bringing it to the drop box outside of Town Hall
• mail it to Office of the Town Clerk, Wellesley Town Hall, 525 Washington Street, Wellesley, MA 02482.

All mail-in ballot applications must be received by the Town Clerk by Wednesday, February 24, 2021 by 5pm. If you need the ballot mailed to you outside of Wellesley, please allow about 10 mailing days for the ballot to go out of Wellesley and be returned.

Completed mail-in ballots may be sent via USPS to the Town Clerk’s Office or brought to the drop box outside of Town Hall.

Completed mail-in ballots must be received by the Town Clerk no later than Tuesday, March 2, 2021 by 8pm.

Vote in person at the polls: the Select Board voted on August 4, 2020 to locate polling locations at non-school sites.

• New Polling Locations Map
• Polling Locations Change Evaluation Report
• Precincts A (Bates), B (Sprague) and C (Upham) will vote at the Municipal Light Plant at 4 Municipal Way.
• Precincts D (Schofield) and E (Fiske) will vote at the Warren Building at 90 Washington Street.
• Precinct F (Dana Hall) will vote at the Wellesley Village Congregational Church at 2 Central Street.

There are no changes at the below precincts:

• Precinct G will vote at the Wellesley Free Library at 530 Washington Street.
•  Precinct H will vote at the Tolles Parsons Center – Council on Aging at 500 Washington Street.

Don’t know which precinct you’re in? Here’s how to find out where to vote in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Note: If you receive a ballot in the mail but then decide that you would rather vote in person, you may do so. You just can’t do both.

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Wellesley Town Election candidates:

Contested races:

• Select Board (3 candidates, 2 openings—Colette Aufranc; Ann-Mara Lanza; Odessa Sanchez)
• Housing Authority 5-year seat (3 candidates, 2 openings—Odessa Sanchez; Janice Coduri; Micah O’Neil)
• Board of Public Works (2 candidates, 1 opening—John Bubeck; Scott Bender)

Uncontested races:

• Board of Assessors (1 opening—W. Arthur Garrity, III)
• Board of Health (1 opening—Marcia Testa Simonson)
• Housing Authority 1-year term (1 opening — Renee Spencer)
• Moderator (1 opening—Mark Kaplan)
• Natural Resources Commission (2 openings—Beatrice Bezmalinovic Dhebar; Laura Robert-Fragasso)
• Planning Board (1 opening—Kathleen Elizabeth Woodward)
• Recreation Commission (3 openings—Paul Cramer; Mark Wolfson; Anthony Munchak, Jr.)
• School Committee (2 openings—Linda Chow; Leda Murcia Eizenberg)
• Town Clerk (1 opening—KC Kato)
• Trustees of the Wellesley Free Library (2 openings—Diane Savage; Maura Murphy)

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Non-binding referendum question:

Question #1: “Should the Select Board, with the understanding that since 1977 Indigenous people of our country have requested Indigenous Peoples Day as a recognition of their humanity, culture, and history and further, that our country was built on Native lands, proclaim the second Monday of October henceforth be commemorated as Indigenous Peoples’ Day and cease to recognize Columbus Day in Wellesley in recognition of the position of Indigenous Peoples as natives to these lands, and the suffering they faced during and after the European conquest? This question is not binding.”