DOVER-FOXCROFT – Municipal officials explained Saturday during a public hearing how a proposed ordinance will implement confidential ballot voting.

Residents will vote on the ordinance that outlines how the traditional show-of-the-hand votes will be replaced by confidential ballot referendum votes on Tuesday, March 7, at the Piscataquis Regional YMCA. Polls will be open for the written ballot from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots are available at the town office.

The voting change was requested in a petition signed by about 400 residents and a subsequent November referendum vote of 1,084 to 373. Intimidation, spending, low voter turnout, time-consuming town meetings and the need for improved communication were some of the reasons given by residents who supported the change.

“We’re here because people don’t feel they’ve been heard,” resident Mary Merchant, one of about 40 participants, said Saturday.

Not all, however, agree with the change. Resident Mary Deerfox said she had never felt intimidated voting by hand, and she expressed remorse at the loss of the traditional town meeting. “It was a good social thing for me,” she said.

The proposed ordinance establishes confidential ballot voting as the town’s regular voting method, outlines the procedure if a budget article fails at referendum, provides for annual business to be conducted on the second Tuesday of June and defines emergency business that can be addressed without a referendum vote.

Emergency matters under the ordinance are defined as business which, if not acted upon before the annual town meeting, would result in a significant loss to the town, such as the acceptance of gifts and grants. If emergencies are supported by a two-thirds majority vote of selectmen, these matters could be conducted at a traditional town meeting by written ballot.

“The emergency clause is not intended to take the place of a referendum vote,” Town Manager Jack Clukey said Saturday.

Under the referendum format, ballot questions must be filed at least 45 days before an election, which does not give the town any leeway, according to Town Attorney Eric Stumpfel. He explained Saturday the town did not have 45 days lead time when Creative Apparel was looking to expand. The manufacturer of chemical resistant military outerwear needed to find production space to fulfill a federal contract and would have gone elsewhere if town officials had not acted quickly, he said. If residents went to the polls for every matter, in some cases it would be to the town’s detriment, he said.

Selectman Joyce Perry, one of the petition organizers, said she couldn’t recall one emergency that required an immediate vote, nor has she seen any emergency grants. She said the petition signers requested a secret ballot vote on all annual and special town meeting matters which the ordinance does not provide but a charter amendment would. She said there is no limit under the proposed ordinance as to what can be called an emergency.

If voters turn down the ordinance next month, the board will need to find another avenue to implement the change, either through an amended ordinance or a charter amendment.