The old confusion over which town Shelburne Falls residents live in has emerged in a new form — through voter registration at the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.
The night before Wednesday’s voter registration deadline for the state primary, Shelburne Town Clerk Joe Judd drove to a resident’s home on Ashfield Road to tell her that her Shelburne voter registration was invalid because she lives in Buckland. He advised her to go Wednesday to Buckland’s town clerk office, if she really wanted to vote in the Sept. 4 primary.
And on Wednesday, three of the seven newly registered voters coming through the RMV were not Shelburne residents: one lived in Conway and two lived in Buckland.
“I see a lot of people registering through the RMV system that are wrong,” Judd said. “Today alone, I got seven or eight that have come through the RMV. But at least three are invalid.”
“As sad as it is to say it,” Judd remarked, “People don’t know where they live.”
For years, both Buckland and Shelburne officials have complained about excise taxes from the RMV going to the wrong town, because people have given “Shelburne Falls” as their address instead of the correct municipality. Shelburne Falls is not a municipal entity but a village within the intersection of Shelburne and Buckland, with the Deerfield River as a town boundary within the village.
Judd said he hadn’t done any voter registrations Wednesday afternoon, but Buckland had between eight to 10 voter registrations that Assistant Town Clerk Elizabeth Cerone took care of between 2 to 4 p.m.
“I’ve been fairly busy today,” she said. “As far as incorrect voter registration, there might have been a couple. Maybe 10 people came in today ‘just to make sure’ they were registered.”
Judd also reported seeing more absentee ballot applications than usual, which he believes is the result of scheduling the state primary on the day after the Labor Day holiday.
With multiple races to fill long-term seats of state politicians, some towns saw a hike in voter registration this year.
Greenfield and Montague reported higher numbers for the past week, considering it’s not a presidential election year, but Deerfield and Orange saw just a couple of people coming to register.
In general, town clerks said they were seeing more registration take place online instead of in Town Hall.
With debates and endorsements coming in for the state Senate and the House of Representatives races, town clerks said voter interest was growing.
“There’s a lot of activity surrounding this election, so that bodes well for registration and hopefully turnout during the election,” Greenfield Town Clerk Kathryn Scott said. Since Aug. 6, she said the city has registered 85 people to vote in the upcoming races.
In Sunderland, the hometown of Natalie Blais, who is running for 1st Franklin District state representative, a handful of people came through to register Wednesday. Town Clerk Wendy Houle said it’s been “a lot busier than I thought.” Since Aug. 6, around 54 people had registered to vote in Sunderland, Houle said, which she attributed to the transient population that lives in town as well as the race itself.
“I’d say it’s a lot busier than if (Stephen) Kulik was running” for re-election, Houle said.
In Montague, Assistant Town Clerk Madelyn Hampp said it’s “up a little bit” this year. The town is home to 1st Franklin District candidate Francia Wisnewski, and Hampp said she had received a number of phone calls checking on registration.
In Deerfield, Town Clerk Barbara Hancock said a few people came in on Wednesday, but more people have been registering online this year.
And in Orange, Town Clerk Nancy Blackmer said it had been relatively quiet on Wednesday, with a few people registering before deadline.