Town Clerk Debbie Aurelia Halstead has announced that the Town Clerk’s office will have Special Absentee Voting Hours ahead of the Board of Education referendum from 9 am to noon Saturday, May 11.

Registered local voters are heading back to referendum on May 14 after the education budget failed on April 23.

Pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes Sec. 7-6, any person who is a registered voter in the Town of Newtown or who is a US citizen assessed for at least $1,000 for Real Estate or Motor Vehicles on the 2023 Grand List for the Town of Newtown is qualified to vote at the Referendum.

Any qualified person who meets any of the following criteria may vote by absentee ballot: active service in the Armed Forces, absence from the Town during all the hours of voting, sickness, physical disability, religious tenets which forbid secular activity on the day of the Referendum or duties as a Referendum official at a polling place other than their own during all hours of voting.

Due to the referendum being conducted with less than three weeks notice, ballots must be applied for in person or a designee. These ballots will not be mailed out.

Voters or their designees must vote in person or have a qualified designee pick up their ballot.

Absentee ballots can be returned in person to the office of the Town Clerk by 4:30 pm Monday, May 13; inserted in ballot box outside either entrance of the municipal center, 3 Primrose Street, before 8 pm on referendum day; or dropped off to the office of the Town Clerk by a qualified designee before 8 pm on referendum day.

Absentee ballots will be counted at Newtown Municipal Center.

Absentee ballots are available weekdays between 8 am and 4:30 pm at the Office of the Town Clerk, within Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street.

For additional information regarding absentee ballots contact the Office of the Town Clerk at town.clerk@newtown-ct.gov or 203-270-4210.