ROYALTON — Residents on Tuesday opted to put off voting on a proposed change to Royalton’s Town Meeting format that would decide “public questions” by Australian ballot instead of a floor vote.

Attendees at Tuesday’s special meeting voted, 57-49, to discuss the proposal at Town Meeting next March rather than decide it now, when participation was expected to be lighter. The vote, which was conducted by secret ballot, required a simple majority to pass.

Prior to the tally, residents hotly debated whether deciding some matters via an Australian ballot would “kill Town Meeting” as it now exists.

“If we vote this in tonight, look around this room because it is the last time we will meet to discuss a motion like this as a body together,” said South Royalton farmer Geo Honigford.

Honigford, who moved to the Upper Valley more than two decades ago, grew up in Ohio.

“They don’t meet like this in Ohio,” he said. “I like this.”

Officials said Australian ballot voting would be convenient for families and working-age adults who might be unable to attend Royalton’s sometimes hours-long Town Meeting.

The Selectboard supported the change, which members said would allow more people to take part in important decisions.

“Public questions” include petition articles submitted by voters as well as those offered by the Selectboard. Under the proposed plan, decisions such as the town’s purchase of the Crawford parcel, which now houses municipal offices, would be on the ballot.

However, budget articles would still be decided during a floor meeting. State law also allows issues on the ballot, aside from candidates, to be discussed from the floor.

Selectboard members on Tuesday pointed to low Town Meeting attendance figures as driving the change.

“It’s very simple, we just want to give voice to more people,” said Tim Dreisbach, vice chairman of the Selectboard. “We would like more people to have a voice. We would like more people to have an opportunity to vote.”

Dreisbach, looking over the room, pointed out the large number of seniors.

“We’re all in general, older, and we can have the luxury of coming here,” he said, adding some people had to work late or take care of family members and couldn’t attend.

Only 6% of registered voters — 135 people — voted from the floor during the March 2019 meeting. Meanwhile, almost 39% — or 2,166 people — voted for candidates at the ballot box.

Similar figures were at play during Royalton’s 2018 and 2017 Town Meeting.

Resident Jo Levasseur also worried about the proposal creating an “erosion of engagement” at the floor meeting while potentially failing to increase the number of voters.

Those who don’t attend floor meeting might not fully understand the warning or questions they’re decided on, Levasseur added.

“And I am definitely appalled that this is being decided at a special meeting and not town meeting,” she said.

Several residents criticized the Selectboard’s choice of a Special Town Meeting on a weeknight in early November to decide the matter.

Selectboard Chairwoman Sandy Conrad replied the nighttime meeting was meant to attract more people who might be done the workday. The forum also allowed people to focus on just one issue, which isn’t possible at the annual floor meeting.

Resident David Barker said his first reaction for the proposed change was “oh this is something sneaky.” But he came to realize that the change could help people.

“It if there’s an opportunity to get more people to vote on any item, it’s great,” he said. “And at end of the day, as much as I hate change, I thought this seems like a decent change.”

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.