Nomination Papers For the April 6, 2021 Annual Town Election are Available - Due February 16th

Nomination Papers For the April 6, 2021, Annual Town Election are Available -Due February 16th

Nomination Papers for Town Offices are now available for those who are interested in running for elected office in Belmont. Candidates must be a registered voter of Belmont.

In addition to many Town-wide offices, twelve Representative Town Meeting Members are elected for three-year terms from each of our eight voting precincts.

Running for Re-election to Town Meeting: Current Town Meeting Members whose term of office expires in 2021 have already been mailed a letter asking if the person will seek re-election. Deadline for return of the signed response letter to the Town Clerk is absolute: January 26^th at 5 PM.  To confirm whether your current term expires in 2021, please check the Town Clerk’s “Town Meeting Members” web page: https://www.belmont-ma.gov/town-clerk/pages/town-meeting-members

What is Town Meeting? When Does it Take Place?

Town Meeting acts as the legislative body of the Town and consists of  288 members elected from precincts plus about 10 At-Large Members.  Town Meeting makes all of the decisions about the Town’s budgets, local Bylaws (both General and Zoning). Belmont’s form of government is a Representative Town Meeting, which means that only Town Meeting Members can debate and vote at Town Meeting, unlike the Open Town Meeting form of government. Video of past Town Meetings is available for viewing on www.Belmontmedia.org .

Twelve Town Meeting Members from each of the eight voting precincts are elected each year to three-year terms, often a limited number of additional partial-term seats are also available.

This year, there are some partial-term openings for Town Meeting, vacancies created by Members who have moved or resigned. Annual Town Meeting takes place in the spring, and typically lasts for six evenings, (customarily Monday and Wednesday) in early May and early June for another two to four evenings. Occasionally a Special Town Meeting is required, one night in the fall, but only if called by the Select Board for a specific topic. In 2020 all of our Town Meetings were held by remote access and we await what 2021 will bring.

Picking up and Turning in Nomination Papers - at the Town Clerk’s Office

Stop by the Town Clerk’s office to pick up nomination papers; have your neighbors and friends, who are voters, sign your nomination papers and submit the signed forms to the Town Clerk by the deadline, February 16, 2021, at 5 pm. The Town Hall is still closed to the public so we’ve set aside specific times for candidates to pick up and return nomination papers, no appointment necessary:

• Monday 9 am and 5:30 pm;
• Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 9 am and 3 pm;
• Friday at 9 am.

Upon arrival at Town Hall, a quick call to 617-993-2603 will bring a staff member out to start the process.

The Town Clerk’s web pages contain quite a bit of information to help make a decision to seek office and running at www.belmont-ma.gov  select Town Clerk, then select Running for Elected Office and Campaigning or feel free to call us at 617-993-2603, or email at townclerk@belmont-ma.gov 

Getting Your Name on the Election Ballot

• To be nominated for Town-wide office – signatures of at least 50 registered voters of Belmont are required on the nomination papers. The Town Clerk must certify these signatures so we always suggest obtaining about 20% more just to be safe.

• To be nominated for Town Meeting – signatures of at least 25 registered voters of only your precinct are required on the nomination papers. The Town Clerk must certify these signatures so we always suggest obtaining about 20% more just to be safe.  Some current Town Meeting Members will be asking the voters for re-election but all twelve seats are available in each precinct, plus any partial term seats.

Here’s the list of offices that will be filled by the April 6, 2021, Annual Town Election as of December 14, 2020. To find out more about the responsibilities of these offices, please check out their individual web pages on the Town website  https://www.belmont-ma.gov/home/pages/boards-commissions  or watch any public meetings on Zoom or www.belmontmedia.org  

Impact of COVID-19:  During 2020, Belmont’s Town Meetings and meetings of boards, commissions and committees have been held via remote access using video conferencing technology. In the case of Town Meeting, we also deploy our secure electronic voting system.  Taking out nomination papers and turning them in for certification is a little different this year – see the schedule above for details. All signatures on nomination papers for local elections must be original, no electronic signatures are permitted.  Candidates will need to consider different ways to obtain the necessary signatures; the Town Clerk’s website offers some suggestions.  

Questions can be directed to townclerk@belmont-ma.gov or 617-993-2603