The Office of the Town Clerk has announced absentee ballots are available for the referendum scheduled for Tuesday, May 19.

Registered Newtown voters can cast their ballots at Newtown Middle School, 11 Queen Street, between 6 am and 8 pm.

The next referendum will be second attempt for local officials to pass 2026-27 budgets after the municipal and Board of Education budgets both failed on April 28. Local registered voters will now vote on a proposed municipal budget of $50,982,035 and proposed Board of Education budget of $95,561,919 (see related story).

Voters this month will also be asked one advisory question: Shall the $2,317,210 special appropriation and bond authorization for the planning, design, engineering and installation of HVAC system upgrades at Newtown High School (such authorization to be transferred from existing unspent bond proceeds) be approved?

Approval of that question will authorize the appropriation and bond authorization of $2,317,210 to proceed with the project. There will not be any new issue of debt for the project as the Town can transfer unspent bond proceeds from another completed project. The project provides for the replacement of five rooftop units and one chiller at the high school. The equipment currently provides heating and cooling to the C, D and F wings of the building.

Those who are unable to get to the middle school on May 19 can vote absentee if they are in active service in the Armed Forces of the United States; will be absent from town on the day of the referendum; will be unavailable due to sickness; have religious tenets which forbid secular activity on the day of the election, primary or referendum; or have a physical disability.

To vote absentee for the approaching referendum, registered voters must either apply in person at the Office of the Town Clerk, within Newtown Municipal Center, 3 Primrose Street, weekdays between 8 am to 4:30 pm, no later than Monday, May 18; or designate someone to pick up their ballot for them.

There is no mailing of absentee ballots with less than three weeks’ notice of a referendum.

Ballots must be returned to the Town Clerk's office by the close of polls at 8 pm May 19.

Official Ballot Drop Boxes are located outside the north and south entrances of the municipal center. The boxes are available 24 hours.

Ballots can also be returned by mail to the Town Clerk, 3 Primrose Street, Newtown CT 06470.

For additional information concerning absentee ballots contact the Town Clerk’s office at town.clerk@newtown-ct.gov or 203-270-4210.