View from the Green

by Colleen Gundlach

It’s great to see people outdoors in Norfolk’s village center. Diners are outside of Wood Creek Grill and Berkshire Country Store, enjoying the crisp fall air and the beautiful colors of a New England autumn.  It’s interesting as well that several groups have opted for open-air meetings in place of Zoom gatherings.

The opportunity for outdoor gatherings is obviously going to diminish as we move into the harsher reality of a Norfolk winter. People will be moving indoors again, and with Phase 3 reopening just announced by the governor, more small businesses will be allowed to attempt to recover from the Covid pandemic by raising occupancy caps on indoor and outdoor activities, effective Oct. 8.

Businesses that have been open all along, such as those in health care, food service and retail have overall found ways to keep their employees safe, such as Plexiglas dividers, masks, face shields and appropriate social distancing. These people have been on the job since Day 1 of this pandemic and have found creative ways to make their businesses work.  They have been going out day after day, meeting the public and helping to keep the country moving. They have lived their daily lives as they did pre-Covid, except with new additions to their wardrobes (masks and/or face shields) and new procedures (hand sanitizers and social distancing). 

Now, with Phase 3, it’s time for everyone to start getting back to the new normal. That includes voting in the upcoming presidential election. A new, mail-in ballot application process has been instituted this year, but voters should remember that voting by absentee ballot has always been an option, dating back decades before Covid. If a person was going to be out of town or was too ill to come to the polling place, one could always contact the town clerk, who would give out applications and provide voters with instructions on completing the application and for processing their ballot. What is new this year is that everyone who is on the voting lists in town has received, or will shortly receive, an application for an absentee ballot. All legitimate absentee ballots will be accepted if they are received before the close of polls on the day of the election. 

I still think in-person voting is the most secure and direct way to cast your vote. The polls will be open at Norfolk Town Hall from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 3, and the usual accepted Covid precautions will be in place to protect the voting public. These precautions are very much like those we have all become used to and that essential employees have been using since the pandemic began—masks, hand sanitizers, social distancing and common sense. 

Voting is as essential as going to the grocery store. It’s a necessity of life for those who want to have a say in maintaining the freedoms to which we have become accustomed. Take your hand sanitizer, your mask, gloves and your common sense and get out there and vote, whichever way you choose. Your way of life depends on it.