Town Meeting is one of the best parts of living in a small community – for those who can attend. That’s the rub. Not everyone has the ability to take the day off and that results in fewer people participating.
This week Duxbury resident Jerry McMahan sent an opinion piece suggesting that holding Tuesday in-person Town Meeting (with town budgets and other articles approved during the meeting) is tantamount to voter suppression.
He’s not completely wrong. Having to be present to approve town spending does limit who can participate although not with the same malice of forethought that is evident is some states’ recently enacted laws making it harder for people to vote both in person and by absentee ballot. Texas comes to mind.
Let’s take a look at the numbers. In 2022, voter turnout at Town Meeting ranged from 17% to 37.9% across the Mad River Valley. In 2019, voter turnout across the Mad River Valley ranged from 10.5% to 26.7%. The average five-town turnout in 2019 was 18.72% and this year it was 27.12%.
Here’s how it breaks down by town. This year, Moretown’s voter turnout was 37.9% compared to 20.4% in 2019. In Waitsfield, turnout was 31% this year and it was 26.7% in 2019.
Voter turnout in Fayston this year was 17% and in 2019 it was 10.5%. In Warren, voter participation this year was 20% and it was 17.7% in 2019. In Duxbury, voter turnout was 29.7%, up from 2019 voter turnout of 18.3%.
That’s a significant increase and it’s due to multiple factors.
It was easy to get mail-in ballots and they came with postage-paid return envelopes. People were able to vote in person from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Town Meeting Day. In Duxbury and Moretown, voters could drive up, pick up a ballot and fill it out in their car before dropping it off and leaving.
But must we throw the baby out with the bathwater and completely do away with Town Meeting as we know it. Can we find a better way? Can we make Town Meeting Day a paid day off for all Vermonters? Can we switch meetings to a weekend day? Can we legally create some sort of hybrid where people could participate in person and remotely?
