The Vote By Mail initiative for Beacon’s 2020-2021 School Budget has arrived today in the mail. Beacon’s Superintendent, Dr. Matthew Landahl emailed district parents and posted to the district website that ballots should be arriving in the mail this (Friday) afternoon. Details about a delay the district was experiencing in getting the ballots out to the public is described below the schedule published here.

Read the Beacon City School District’s Budget Presentation here. Quick Links to the budget are on the district’s website.

You are encouraged to drop your ballot off in a Ballot Drop Box. The schedule is below.

All ballots must be received by mail or dropbox by 5:00pm Tuesday, June 9th.

Ballot Drop Box Locations and Hours

Friday, June 5
Beacon High School 11-5
Glenham Elementary 11-5
District Administration Building 11-5

Saturday, June 6
District Administration Building 12-4

Sunday, June 7
District Administration Building 12-4

Monday, June 8
Beacon High School 8-5
Glenham Elementary 8-5
District Administration Building 8-5

Tuesday, June 9
Beacon High School 6am-5
Glenham Elementary 6am-5
District Administration Building 6am-5

Ballots are due Tuesday, June 9 by 5:00pm.

The Delay In Absentee Ballots

On May 31, 2020, Dr. Landahl emailed the district about an expected delay in the ballots. The Howland Public Library also emailed their subscribe list with the news. Dr. Landahl explained:

“We contracted with a company named NTS Data to print and mail our absentee ballots to all of our registered voters. NTS Data is a company we have worked with on our elections for several years and many districts in New York State and the area have as well.

”On Friday, May 29, 2020, NTS Data informed us that they were having trouble with our ballot mailing due to an envelope shortage and supply chain issue. This is an issue that about 50 districts in New York are also having with NTS Data.”

This (Friday) morning, Dr. Landahl emailed again to let the public know that we should be receiving a ballot by this afternoon. For this writer, the ballots came. For some of our readers, they are reporting that they have not received it yet, but did receive the promotional postcard about voting. Keep looking in your junk mail. And cross your fingers.