A back-roads tour of democracy

A back-roads tour of democracy
By George Barnes TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
george.barnes@telegram.com
 
In the 40-plus years I have been a voter, I have become more and more convinced that Election Day should be a national holiday.

I admit I am an election junkie and would spend all day hanging out at the polls if I didn't have to cover races.

On Tuesday, I was scheduled to work the night shift. It was a nice morning, so I decided to skip working around the house and went out to look for voting America. I ventured to the polls and voted first and then stopped by Templeton Town Clerk Carol Harris' office. At that point I decided it would be fun to visit all 12 towns in the 2nd Franklin District.

The 2nd Franklin stretches from Templeton to Belchertown and Gill. I know some of the towns, but was curious what the rest were like. It turned out to be an adventure.

In the eastern end of the district, I have known all the clerks for many years, but it is always a pleasure to see Mrs. Harris, Karin Foley in Phillipston, Melanie Mangum in Royalston, Diana Cooley in Petersham, Nancy Burnham in Athol, and Nancy Blackmer in Orange.

It's an easy trek from Templeton to Phillipston, Athol and Orange. Royalston is a bit off the path, so I saved it for last.

In Phillipston, I started an obsession that carried me through the day. At the polls, I photographed its 100-plus-year-old ballot box. The old wooden ballot boxes are a dying breed. More efficient electronic boxes are replacing them, and I am sure the state would like to update all of them. By the end of the day, I had photographed eight of the old boxes, including one each in Petersham, New Salem, Wendell, Gill and Warwick, and two in Royalston.

It is not easy to travel from town to town in the 2nd Franklin District. After chatting with NPR reporter David Boeri and others in Petersham, I fortified myself on Dean's Beans coffee from the Petersham Country Store and traveled to Athol, which votes in its senior center. In Orange, my next stop, I had to park up the street because the parking area was full. Outside, friendly UMass students were doing exit polling.

The real trip began when I traveled to quaint New Salem center, near the Quabbin Reservoir. From there I went to Belchertown at the western end of the reservoir. A bastion of Democrats, Belchertown is accessible only after crossing two other representatives' districts.

Getting back to Wendell from Belchertown was a study in bushwhacking. Wendell is a tiny town with a nice little bar/restaurant called Deja Brew. It is also known as a haven for hippies. Surprisingly, the town hall was a modern building near the rural center of town.

From Wendell, you travel through about seven forests filled with moose and bear to get to Route 2, and then down to Erving. Erving I know well, having drilled water wells there in another life. The people there were as friendly as I remembered them.

The next stop was Gill. It is on the other side of the Connecticut River in the woods far north of Route 2. Its polls are in the town fire station, a few miles from the Gill Tavern. The polls are in a tiny room, literally behind the fire trucks.

From Gill it was a good 45 minutes to get to Warwick, a town lost in time in the middle of nowhere off Route 78, not too far from New Hampshire. It has an ancient town hall in which I found an ancient ballot box and David Young, former head of the Millers River CDC, and town treasurer Beth Gilgun, among others.

My last stop in the district was also out in the woods near New Hampshire. Royalston is always fun to visit, even when poll workers harass me by calling me a Worcester reporter. The only disappointment was that the South Royalston polling place did not have its usual bake sale.

The entire trip took only 4½ hours and about a quarter tank of gas, but for those who have never been to the towns, it is a part of America worth seeing.

Contact George Barnes at george.barnes@telegram.com