North Reading Votes is excited to debut our Voter Guide for the 2017 Town Election. The 2017 Town Election will be held on Tuesday, May 2 at St. Theresa’s church between 7 am and 8 pm. Early voting is not available for the town election, so if you are unable to get to the polls between 7 am and 8 pm on May 2, please request an absentee ballot. Be sure you are registered to vote by April 12 to participate in this election.

This year, 7 candidates are running for 5 spots, including two contested races. There is also a ballot question regarding marijuana establishments in town.

Learning about the Candidates

Check out the Voter Guide put together by North Reading Votes. It contains candidate biographies, statements, and contact info for each candidate who wished to participate in the guide. In addition, the time slots are listed for candidates who wish to participate in the Candidate Q&A sessions hosted by North Reading Community Connection on Facebook. See below for more information about the Q&A sessions. We thank all the candidates running in the contested races for participating in the Voter Guide and Q&A sessions!

Other ways to learn more about the candidates include attending their events (find events on the candidates’ personal or facebook pages, which are listed in the Voter Guide), searching the North Reading Transcript for articles about the candidates, or (for incumbents) reviewing NORCAM footage of candidates’ past meetings.

Candidate Q&A Sessions on Facebook

Starting in 2016, candidates have participated in online Q&A sessions on our town’s Facebook group, North Reading Community Connection. Candidates can sign up for two (hour-long) slots on any day during the 10 days before the election, and we will advertise those times here and within the Facebook group over the next few weeks. North Reading voters should join the group now if you would like to observe or ask questions during these sessions.

At the appointed time, a candidate will post an introductory post within the group, introducing themselves and offering to answer questions. Residents then add their questions as comments on that original post, and the candidate will reply to the comments to answer the questions. The questions and answers will remain in the group newsfeed afterward, so even if you can’t be online during the session, you can find it later. Any residents are welcome to ask questions online during the Candidate Q&A sessions, just make sure to join North Reading Community Connection ahead of time.

Link to Town Government Site

A list of the candidates and the ballot question are also available on the Town’s government website.