Duxbury voters head to the polls Saturday (DMS from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.) to choose candidates for the Board of Selectmen and School Committee. Based on their answers at our forum last week there are some genuine policy differences to consider.

Incumbent Betsy Sullivan and challenger Niamh O’Byrne differed sharply –– though congenially –– on the fire and police station projects, the balance between open spaces and affordable housing, and the use of surveillance cameras in town. The choice among School Committee candidates is less stark, but still important. All three candidates –– Anne Ward, Maureen Connolly and ML Nichols –– are well known in the school community and offer differing backgrounds, experience and outlook. See our voter guide further back in the paper for more information.

Voters will also decide the fate of three important ballot questions. Question one is a capital exclusion article (a one-year tax hike) that will pay for some capital items needed at town hall and in our schools, including new textbooks, a fire department vehicle and shingles at town hall. Question two will authorize $1 million to come up with complete design plans for new police and fire stations. Question three will authorize money for plans to renovate the Percy Walker Pool.

Because the election ballot was printed prior to Town Meeting the dollar figures and details aren’t as clear as they might be. The good news is that the amount needed for the capital exclusion is actually $300,000 less than what’s printed on the ballot.

Let’s be clear about one other thing: Saturday’s vote is no mere formality. Just because these projects were approved at Town Meeting does not make them so. All three questions must be approved by a majority of voters to pass.

We sometimes hear the sentiment that Town Meeting made its decision and the now the masses should follow suit. This presupposes that the good folks who attend Town Meeting have a monopoly on common sense and good judgment. They don’t. Nor do we.

Voters who didn’t make it to Town Meeting can and do have just have just as much say in this matter as everyone else. So get out there on Saturday. Your vote is sovereign. Use it or lose it.