Meetings Ahead
Most meetings in Truro are remote. Go to Truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you are interested in. The agenda includes instructions on how to join.
Friday, Jan. 26
- Finance Committee, 8:30 a.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 30
- Budget Task Force, 8:30 a.m.
Conversation Starter
Voter Challenge Update
Hearings have taken place for many of the 66 people whose Truro voter registrations were challenged in November, after which the board of registrars was reconstituted. But the question of who can vote here isn’t entirely resolved: three people whose registrations were challenged have yet to have their hearings.
Challenges still stand against Nancy Medoff, Daniel Paisner, and Robert Panessiti, according to Town Clerk Elisabeth Verde, and they will be summoned to appear before the registrars. All three were challenged by registered voter Jon Slater.
Of the 66 registrations challenged by the special town meeting deadline, 31 remain on the rolls, either after a hearing or because the complaint against the registration was withdrawn. Of the 35 who can no longer vote in town, 13 were removed by the registrars, and 22 switched their own registrations.
The board of registrars heard former Town Moderator Monica Kraft’s challenge to Anne Greenbaum’s voter registration on Friday, Jan. 5. The three registrars present all voted to affirm Greenbaum’s place on the town’s voter roll.
As evidence that Greenbaum resides in Boston, not in Truro, Kraft presented paperwork from the Boston assessor’s office on the residential tax exemption (RTE) that Greenbaum claims on her property in Jamaica Plain. RTEs are available only to those who are domiciled in a given city or town.
Kraft also presented evidence that Greenbaum pays personal property tax in Truro, which only nonresidents must do.
Greenbaum, who is a member and former chair of the Truro Planning Board, has been registered to vote in Truro since 2017.
Greenbaum told the registrars that her wife does not yet reside in Truro. She said that she and her wife “have different interests, personalities, hobbies, and life experiences.” Because of that, their moves to Truro have been on different timelines, Greenbaum said, “with mine in the past and hers in process.”
Greenbaum’s driver’s license, car registration, and excise tax payments are all in Truro. Bills and financial materials get sent to both towns, she said.
“I think that Ms. Greenbaum has overwhelmingly shown that she is a resident of Truro,” said registrar Heather Harper, and Julie Cataldo and Elisabeth Verde agreed. Elizabeth Sturdy, the fourth registrar, was absent.
“It sounds like you’re in transition,” Verde said, supporting Greenbaum’s right to vote in town.
According to Verde, a date for the remaining three hearings has not yet been set. —Sophie Mann-Shafir
