The March 11 vote on establishing Senate Bill 2 official balloting is getting a mixed review as residents weigh increased voter participation vs. the traditional meeting and discussion format.

“Less than 200 people last year voted for an almost $9 million school budget, and I think that percentage is just too low,” said former selectman Charles Kellett, who signed citizen petitions for SB2 for both the town and school. “At the Town Meeting, you deliberate and then vote, and all SB2 really does is separate the two.”

About 50 towns and cities and 70 school districts in the state use the official ballot law, often called SB2, which replaces the traditional annual Town Meeting and School District Meeting with an early deliberative session, usually in February, with the vote occurring in mid-March. Kellet and other residents say this is the first time they recall seeing SB2 on Auburn’s ballots, and while officials have not taken sides on the issue, Selectmen Chairman Harlan Eaton recently said he sees “nothing broken” with the Town Meeting format that has been practiced so far.

Everett Harriman, a local retiree, said he opposes SB2 because he has become aware of a drop in attendance at the deliberative sessions when towns such as neighboring Candia have adopted SB2. In 2005, about 600 voters attended the annual Candia Town Meeting, but attendance was about 80 at the deliberative session in 2007.

Harriman said Auburn, with its population of about 5,000, is still “a small enough town to get its “arms around issues” at the annual Town Meeting.

“I’ve found that in the eight years I’ve lived here ... that the give and take at the school and town meetings is very informative, and that it brings out a true picture of the articles up for discussion,” Harriman said. “Neither system is perfect, but I still opt for ... the Town Meeting format.”

School Board member Kathleen Porter agreed, adding she believes SB2 is more effective for bigger towns than it would be for Auburn.

“I think it works well in larger communities where you just don’t have the space for that large of a meeting,” she said. “Auburn is still small enough so that the voters can come together.”

But Kellett observed that as time goes on, Auburn is becoming more and more of a bedroom community, where many residents’ work schedules don’t allow enough time to attend a big meeting or analyze many issues at once. In a best-case scenario, Kellett said, he hopes busy residents could become apprised of the town’s issues by reading the summary of the deliberative sessions and then make an informed vote in March.

Kellett said he views the upcoming SB2 vote largely as an attempt to elicit more voters, and said that he’ll have no problem voting against it should it ultimately prove ineffective.