Thanks Rachel. The low participation bothers me as well especially as we're looking at ways in which we can be more inclusive.
The heavily discussed/widely communicated topic like the school building had 18% voter participation. (~900 voters out of 5000 as you mentioned.). As a reference, the 2022 state primary and the 2020 presidential election had 32% and 86% turnout of the voters in Lincoln respectively. I'm not comparing the importance of local topics vs. state/national elections, but from a process/accessibility standpoint, town meeting does depress voter turnout to levels that are hard to call representative of the overall number of voters. I know there have been some suggestions to improve our participation. And I'm fully supportive of taking a more creative approach despite the state-lwvel constraints. These are my own views. I am not speaking on behalf of any of the town committees I sit on. Fuat Koro On Wed, Nov 29, 2023, 5:34 AM Rachel Drew <[email protected]> wrote: > Lynne Smith wrote yesterday: "We will *all *meet on December 2nd to make > the best choice we know how to make for Lincoln's future".(emphasis added). > This is not accurate. Only those residents privileged enough to be able to > take the better part of their day off from work, family responsibilities > and other personal priorities will be in attendance on December 2nd. Based > on historical counts of Town Meeting (TM) attendance (which are published > in the Annual Town Reports), on average less than 400 residents attend the > regularly scheduled TM in March - or about 8% of the voting-age population > in town. A special TM like the one on December 2nd may draw more residents > due to its hotly-debated topics (for reference, the special TM in June 2018 > on the school options drew around 900 people, following a long and > well-advertised campaign to get residents to attend), but may also exclude > more residents since its timing and agenda were not known far enough in > advance that all residents could plan it around their other > commitments. Either way, it only takes half of those in attendance to > approve most warrant articles, so it is likely that less than 5% of > voting-age residents will determine the path forward on the > Community Center, Common's expansion, and the HCA zoning this Saturday. > > I'm not offering an opinion on Town Meeting as good or bad, legitimate or > rigged - it is our form of governance in Lincoln, and whether you love it > or hate it, it is how Lincoln decides most of the important issues in town. > I'm only asking that we be honest when we talk about what a Town Meeting is > - a chance for an unrepresentative* minority of the population to come > together and debate topics of importance for the town, then make a decision > based on their preferences and perceptions of what is best for the rest of > us. No vote on Saturday will tell us anything about 'the will of the town', > so let's please stop perpetuating this false narrative. > > (full disclosure - I am a member of the HCAWG and the Lincoln Housing > Commission, though my comments above are made as an individual resident of > Lincoln and do not reflect the views of either group. I will also be out of > town on a long-planned trip on December 2nd). > > *For more information on the demographics of Massachusetts TM attendance > relative to general populations, please see this article, which includes > Lincoln as one of its case studies: > https://www.townofsharon.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif3801/f/pages/survey_of_engaged_tm_04_01_2020.pdf > > Rachel Drew > -- > The LincolnTalk mailing list. > To post, send mail to [email protected]. > Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/ > . > Change your subscription settings at > https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln. > >
-- The LincolnTalk mailing list. To post, send mail to [email protected]. Browse the archives at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/private/lincoln/. Change your subscription settings at https://pairlist9.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/lincoln.
