{"id":12713,"date":"2026-09-25T19:07:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T19:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/referendums\/windham-budget-voting-reform\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T12:38:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T12:38:42","slug":"windham-budget-voting-reform","status":"publish","type":"referendum","link":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/referendums\/windham-budget-voting-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Windham budget voting reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-e44e021b wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Read more<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-left is-style-short-red\"\/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-the-portland-press-herald wp-block-embed-the-portland-press-herald\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"V6a43gWXuK\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/06\/15\/windham-adopts-budget-at-what-could-be-its-last-in-person-town-meeting\/\">Windham adopts budget at what could be its last in-person town meeting<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cWindham adopts budget at what could be its last in-person town meeting\u201d \u2014 The Portland Press Herald\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/06\/15\/windham-adopts-budget-at-what-could-be-its-last-in-person-town-meeting\/embed\/#?secret=h8v8nHn7Cx#?secret=V6a43gWXuK\" data-secret=\"V6a43gWXuK\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-the-portland-press-herald wp-block-embed-the-portland-press-herald\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"6WvBvAvk2x\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/05\/28\/windham-public-hearing-debates-changing-town-meetings-to-ballots\/\">Windham public hearing debates changing town meetings to ballots<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cWindham public hearing debates changing town meetings to ballots\u201d \u2014 The Portland Press Herald\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/05\/28\/windham-public-hearing-debates-changing-town-meetings-to-ballots\/embed\/#?secret=UmPlhBV5wc#?secret=6WvBvAvk2x\" data-secret=\"6WvBvAvk2x\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-the-portland-press-herald wp-block-embed-the-portland-press-herald\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"aXkXFRNBMa\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/03\/03\/windham-town-meetings-could-be-replaced-with-ballots\/\">Windham town meetings could be replaced with ballots<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cWindham town meetings could be replaced with ballots\u201d \u2014 The Portland Press Herald\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/03\/03\/windham-town-meetings-could-be-replaced-with-ballots\/embed\/#?secret=WAPdEyZzqZ#?secret=aXkXFRNBMa\" data-secret=\"aXkXFRNBMa\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This question, if approved will switch Windham&#8217;s town meeting format from an in-person meeting to a secret ballot, similar to the process currently used for the RSU 14 school budget. If necessary, an in-person town meeting could be called to address portions of the budget rejected at the initial town meeting. Currently, in-person town meetings suffer from low turnout and significant length. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"voter_guide_referendum_type":"","voter_guide_referendum_needs":"","voter_guide_referendum_fiscal_impact":"N\/A","voter_guide_referendum_effective_if_passed":"","voter_guide_referendum_sponsor":"","voter_guide_referendum_signatures_required":"","voter_guide_referendum_signatures_collected":"","voter_guide_referendum_legislative_action":"","voter_guide_referendum_on_ballot_since":"","voter_guide_referendum_vote_yes_means":"Windham will switch to a secret ballot format for town meetings","voter_guide_referendum_vote_no_means":"Windham will retain its current town meeting format","voter_guide_referendum_related_links":"https:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/06\/15\/windham-adopts-budget-at-what-could-be-its-last-in-person-town-meeting\/\nhttps:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/05\/28\/windham-public-hearing-debates-changing-town-meetings-to-ballots\/\nhttps:\/\/www.pressherald.com\/2026\/03\/03\/windham-town-meetings-could-be-replaced-with-ballots\/","_speedyseo_primary_vg_referendum_type":"","footnotes":""},"vg_scope":[899],"vg_municipality":[1192],"vg_referendum_type":[],"class_list":["post-12713","referendum","type-referendum","status-publish","hentry","vg_scope-local","vg_municipality-rsu-14"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/referendums\/12713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/referendums"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/referendum"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/referendums\/12713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13415,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/referendums\/12713\/revisions\/13415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"vg_scope","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_scope?post=12713"},{"taxonomy":"vg_municipality","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_municipality?post=12713"},{"taxonomy":"vg_referendum_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stage.pressherald.com\/voter-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vg_referendum_type?post=12713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}