Wareham voters are either evenly split on whether Wareham should abandon its system of open Town Meeting and Selectmen or they misinterpreted ballot Question 1 on Tuesday.

Ballot Question 2, less prone to misinterpretation, yielded a 54-to-46% "yes" vote on the controversial Westfield senior housing project.

Both questions were non-binding, more like opinion polls than decision-making.

Question 1 was put on the ballot at the request of the Charter Review Committee, which has recommended that Wareham switch to a mayor-and-town-council form of government. But it was not a referendum on that recommendation. Instead, the question was only whether voters were satisfied with Wareham's current form of government: A board of selectmen and an open Town Meeting in which every registered voter can participate.

The 49% "yes," 51% "no" vote is difficult to interpret. With other election results clearly signalling dissatisfaction with incumbents, it is likely that a question asking whether the "current form of government is working in the best interests of the town," was interpreted by some as a referendum on those incumbents. And, with the source of the question being those who favor a mayor, some "yes" votes may have come from people who oppose a mayor but would like to see other modifications in Wareham's current form of government.

Question 2 asked voters whether they favored allowing Selectmen to contract for construction of affordable senior housing on a small portion of the so-called Westfield property on Charlotte Furnace Road.

The Westfield project, enthusiastically promoted by the outgoing Board of Selectmen, has been repeatedly rejected by Town Meeting. The Selectmen put the project on the Town Meeting warrant again this year and the Westfield question on the ballot -- apparently hoping that a big "yes" vote would provide momentum for success at Town Meeting.

The most certain conclusion from yesterday's vote is that Westfield will again be hotly debated at Town Meeting when it convenes later this month.