Here are some brief thoughts on recent happenings in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.
By most accounts, residents have been taking advantage of expanded vote-by-mail and in-person early voting options first introduced in 2016. This suggests that polling places will be less crowded this time around. Readers with long memories may be waxing nostalgic when they go to vote tomorrow. As recently as 2012, everyone voted on Election Day, with the exception of those who requested an absentee ballot because they would be out of town on the day of the election, or were unable to visit the polls because of a physical disability or a religious belief. How quaint these restrictions seem today when you can request an absentee ballot without stating a reason.
Depending on when you arrived at the Town Hall, there may have been a crush of voters lined up in the lobby. And you know what that means: captive consumers! Savvy organizations including school, church and community groups held bake sales in the lobby. Who could resist a muffin while you were standing in line, surveying the goodies? It was also a time to catch up with a neighbor or two. Finally, as your ballot got sucked into the machine, you checked the count to see how many people had already voted. No doubt recent changes will streamline the voting process and those who vote tomorrow will get in and out quickly. But some of us will miss the camaraderie of Election Day voting, and time will seem to crawl for poll workers with fewer people to greet and move through the stations.
The Recorder will publish the number of early voting vs. election day ballots for each town in its chart on Thursday.
Whether it’s volunteer fire departments, service organizations or churches, new recruits — the lifeblood of any group — don’t just wander in. Instead, they respond to such tried-and-true methods of recruitment as demonstrated by the Northfield Fire Department last week in an appearance before the Selectboard, where four new members were appointed. Their paths to recruitment ran as follows:
“He heard about the opportunity through a friend who is a member.”
“He heard about the Northfield department through a current member.”
“He kept telling me about it and I thought it sounded like a good way to give back.”
“His father served on the Northfield Fire Department for more than a decade.”
Some came up from the ranks of the junior firefighter program, which Chief Floyd “Skip” Dunnell III said has earned a good reputation among departments across Franklin County.
So the blueprint for recruitment success in the volunteer arena is this: word of mouth, family history and youth programming.
The Nov. 9 deadline for submitting your nomination for Recorder Citizen of the Year is fast approaching. You can find a nomination form on page B5 of Friday’s Recorder. You can also email your nomination to Editor-in-Chief Joan Livingston at jlivingston@recorder.com. We look forward to learning about the many unsung heroes of Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.