HUB status in Moultonborough

[winni83]

To respond to a question from Think:

Moultonborough has somewhere around 5,000 registered voters. At the Town Election on May 8, 2023 (where Town Officers are elected, among other items), there were about 1,374 ballots cast. This is the election where the polls are open all day and there is the opportunity to vote by absentee ballot. At the Town Meeting on June 1, the highest number of votes cast was 990 (on the HUB). Rounding up to 1,000 people present at Town Meeting is an historic high. Previously, the highest number voting at Town Meeting was 2019 where there were about 650. So the number present at Town Meeting was in my view very high since historically more people vote in the Town Elections than at Town Meeting. The fact that the HUB failed to achieve even a majority of the 990, let alone the fact that the proposal fell 150 votes short of the 60% required, given the extensive effort to convince voters to approve the Taj Mahal is in my opinion a significant defeat for the Hubbers. Unfortunately I do not know of any way that one Town Meeting can restrict what happens at a future Town Meeting, so like the proverbial Hydra, we can expect more efforts to wear down the opposition and shove this thing down the throats of the Moultonborough taxpayers, especially those who own property and are not eligible to vote.