Woolwich voters can expect a few changes when they convene for the annual town meeting at 9 a.m. May 7 in the gymnasium of the elementary school.

Tuesday evening selectmen met for an hour-long workshop with Town Clerk Janice Bradford, ballot clerks and town meeting moderator John Chapman.

The changes include having colored ballots and a ballot box on hand should a written vote be requested. Voters will consider a $1.5 million budget in addition to a petitioned article seeking the return of pay-per-bag curbside trash pickup.

“We’d like to give people three or four different colored ballots to use,” explained David King Sr., chairman of the board of selectmen. “If someone asks for a ballot vote, we’ll announce the color and people will mark yes or no, and cast their vote in the ballot box.”

Voters will receive their ballots when they check in at the door. If they choose to leave town meeting early, they’ll be asked to return any unused ballots to a ballot clerk.

King said selectmen had already decided to require a ballot vote on the pay-per-bag article.

Chapman suggested that during ballot counting, one voter in favor and one opposed be permitted to observe the ballot clerks. Don Adams volunteered to be an observer on the pay-per-bag question.

The town clerk said she plans to have three clerks at the door checking people in to the meeting. It would help, she added, if residents arrived early. The doors will open at 7:45a.m.

Chapman said he plans to rely on a voice vote followed next by a show of hands if he can’t make a clear determination. He mentioned another way of settling a close vote was to call for a “division of the house.” This involves voters leaving their seats, yeas going to one side of the gym and nays to the other.

Selectmen plan to have more portable microphones available for the audience to use and volunteers to hand them to voters.

“I’ve had people tell me they’d really appreciate having the mics so they don’t have to leave their seat and come to the front of the gym every time they want to speak,” Selectman Allison Hepler said.

Chapman told selectmen he hopes to give every resident who wants to an opportunity to comment on an article. “I don’t want people to move a question too fast. It’s important for some questions to be debated longer. That’s the real democratic process,” he said.

 Selectman Jason Shaw said afterward that the board learned a lot from last year’s town meeting. “We knew we had to make some changes. Hopefully these will help,” he said.

The upcoming town meeting will be the first time in 23 years Woolwich has held its annual town meeting on a Saturday. Selectmen’s decision to return town meeting to Saturday rather then hold it on a weeknight was in response to a poll taken at the November general election.