Traditional Meetings, Voter Disenfranchisement, and SB2 Balloting

by Op-Ed

Are you a concerned voter and taxpayer who cannot attend the traditional town meeting or a COOP school district meeting? Some fellow citizens tout the traditional meeting as a pure democracy, as the voters present at the traditional meeting make up the legislative body and decide on all matters.

This statement may be true, but you actually need to be present at the traditional meeting to have a voice as a voting member of the legislative body.

Another truth is that many voters simply cannot practically attend a traditional meeting for a variety of reasons. In Hollis and Brookline, participation in traditional meetings typically ranges from 2% to 5% of voters who approve town and school budgets and spending ranging from $8M to $30M+, deciding for the 95% to 98% of voters, not at the meeting. The town and school meetings determine about 96% of our property taxes, so maximum participation is paramount.

Since 2014, COOP traditional meetings have averaged 6½ hours, sometimes over multiple evenings. I would argue voting on multi-million-dollar bonds for the COOP at 1 am in the morning may not embody true democracy, but that has occurred. Traditional town meetings often run similar durations, past midnight in some cases. This year, the Brookline traditional town meeting has 30 warrant articles with four one-hour ballot votes and is expected to take at least two evenings.


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From the relatively sparse traditional meeting attendance, we know that many citizens simply cannot participate in the traditional meetings. It is a significant challenge for many elderly or disabled citizens to get to the meeting location and participate in often lengthy meetings. Some citizens have health concerns and cannot risk being in a large gathering. Other citizens have a second shift, overtime, or weekend work commitments at the same time as the traditional meeting. Still, others are out of town on travel for work, are students away at college, serve in the military away from home, or may be snowbirds out of state. Two-parent households with small children often can only have one parent participate. Unfortunately, all of these voters are disenfranchised in the traditional meeting system.

The solution is to adopt the official balloting system known as SB2. Under the SB2 system, we still have a very important deliberative session to discuss, deliberate, debate, amend, and finalize all warrant articles, held in early February. The deliberative session is very similar to a traditional meeting, except for the final vote on the warrant articles. After the deliberative session, voters have time to fact-check and think about how they will vote instead of making the snap decisions that happen at a traditional meeting. The final vote on all warrant articles occurs at least 30 days later via official ballot on election day on the second Tuesday in March. Voters can vote anytime the polls are open on election day at their convenience or by absentee ballot.

Under SB2, no voter is disenfranchised!

Voter turnout on town/school election day in Hollis and Brookline historically ranges from 20% to 25%. So under the SB2 system, we could have five to ten times the number of voters participating than under the traditional meeting. When many more voters participate, we collectively make decisions that better reflect the will and support of our communities.

This year, Hollis and Brookline voters will have the opportunity to adopt SB2 for the Hollis Brookline COOP during the March 19 meeting at 6:30 pm (warrant article 9).

Brookline voters will also have the opportunity to adopt SB2 for the town during the March 13 meeting at 7 pm (warrant article 23).

Motions will be made to bring the vote on adopting SB2 early in both meetings, so please plan on attending at least the beginning meeting so that SB2 is successfully adopted and no Hollis or Brookline voter is disenfranchised. For any questions on SB2, you can email me at info@hollisbrookline.com or visit www.hollisbrookline.com.

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