If you are new to Merrimack, you may not understand the election process and how you can make a difference beyond showing up on election day.

There are three municipal entities within the Town. The Town proper which includes Town Hall, Police, Fire, Library and many other departments. The second is the School District which oversee the public schools within the Town. The third is the Merrimack Village District (MVD) and they provide water service to the Town.

The Village District follows what would be considered 'old style town meeting' format of elections. Their District Meeting is held on the last Tuesday in March of each year.

The Town, up until 2006, operated under what is known locally as 'SB2' Ballot. In April of 2006, the Town's form of government was formally defined within the Town Charter. The Charter, in many respects, follows SB2 procedures.

The School District adopted SB2 at the same time the Town did, and still follows the procedures laid out (but not entirely) in RSA-40:13

You register to vote at Town Hall for all Town, School District and Village District elections. This is the first step in becoming involved in your community.

See the Town Clerk's Page for details on registering to vote.

You may register to vote on Election Day, but you are not allowed to register at the deliberative sessions which take place prior to election day and can drastically change what you see on the ballot.

Visit the Deliberative Session Registration Deadlines Page for those dates.

The School District, Town and the Village District hold Annual Meetings, those meetings for the School District and Town are broken into two sessions. The First Session is most commonly referred to as the Deliberative Session and the second session is Election Day. For the Village District, deliberations and voting are done at a single meeting.

Moderator's Official Rules
Town Deliberative Session	School District Deliberative Session

The above links are to the documents which the Town and School District Moderator have made available to the public. Below are guidelines that cover both of the meetings.

1. The Moderator is in charge. What they say goes, including any last minute changes to the rules as they see fit.
2. There is no smoking on School Property.
3. Sign in when you first arrive. You will be given a colored card which, if called upon, you will use to vote for or against an ammendment. You will have had to registered to vote prior to this meeting. You should sign the back of the card.
4. If you leave before the end of the meeting, take your card with you.
5. You are allowed to leave and return to the meeting, keep your card with you
6. Votes are taken by the Moderator asking for voters to raise their cards in the air. If the difference between the for and against is close, the moderator may ask the question a second time and the assistant moderators will count each card and report the numbers to the moderator.
7. Secret Ballots will require you to fill out a ballot handed to you by the an assistant moderator (who will ask to see your card and will place a mark on it). You will then place your ballot into a box where they are then counted before the meeting continues.

Some suggestions we have:

• Get there early, there is often a delay in signing in right around the start of the meeting
• Bring a few pieces of paper and a pen with you
• Put your cell phone on vibrate, or turn it off. If you must make, or take a call, leave the room

Election Day deserves it own page.