In the 2 years that I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve put up several articles regarding low citizen interest in government and low voter turnout on important issues that will impact the town’s future. However, as bleak as some of my reports have been regarding voter turnout, none have been as bad as the one that follows.

Littleton, MA is a somewhat affluent, predominantly white, well-educated community with a population just under 9,000 in 2009. The town has a median income in excess of $91,000.00 and seems to be a community where one would expect to find observant, self-sufficient, and well-informed voters. But all is not what it seems.

Littleton is a town that operates under Town Meeting [as opposed to Representative Town Meeting]. Under this system, each citizen is responsible to show up at scheduled meetings if they wish to have a voice in matters affecting the town and its future. There are no elected Town Meeting members to speak for them.

Of the 9,000 citizens, 6,000 [66%] citizens are registered voters. In the latest Town Meeting, a grand total of 237 citizens showed up at town meeting to inform themselves on the issues and to vote on key issues ranging from simple policy changes to critical financing issues to be voted on by the entire town. In this case, there was an issue regarding funding a new High School track funded by a debt-exclusion override of proposition 2½. This alone will result in an $18.00 a year tax increase per year for each homeowner. [I know, I wish our increases were this "bad"].

Compared to Billerica, Littleton is small potatoes from a taxing perspective. Its total budget is $30,000,000.00, which is just a bit more than half of Billerica’s school department budget alone. But, the size of the budget has nothing to do with voter turn-out or apathy. Beyond the budget, there is the moral responsibility of citizens to direct the management of their communities as they see fit. Those communities are a direct reflection of the citizens who inhabit them, of their values, their sense of aesthetics and of their personal philosophy and ethics, and their commitment to the democratic process that hundreds of thousands of Americans have sacrificed their lives to establish and preserve.

To their credit, the town has organized a committee to determine what they can do to improve attendance at Town Meeting, which has been attended, on average over the past 4 years by approximately 4% of the eligible voters. Town Clerk Diane Crory stated that:

“Four percent of people in town are deciding the budget for the entire town. It affects everybody. People aren’t coming out and voicing interest or disinterest.”

In addition, a similar phenomenon is occurring during election cycle voting. In Littleton’s 2010 Selectman race, there were three candidates for two seats. Of the nearly 6,000 voters registered, 1,619 votes were cast. First place went to incumbent Joe Knox with 1,011 votes. Second place went to candidate Gregg Champney with 803 votes. The third place [not elected] vote went to Richard Carter with 800 votes. Of a town with 6,000 registered voters casting 1619 ballots, [2.7%], a second selectman’s seat was decided by just three votes.

Initially, Mitt Romney was declared the winner of the Republican caucus in Iowa by just eight votes. Closer to home, then candidate Michael Moore lost a seat on the Billerica planning board, also, by just eight votes. He is currently running for town moderator against incumbent moderator Gil Moreira in what should be another closely contested race between two highly qualified, competent and professionally skilled candidates. Does anyone out there reading this believe, truly, that their vote or lack thereof has no consequence?

O.K. here’s the bottom line:

Littleton formed a committee to discover why people are so unwilling to show up for Town Meeting and to make their voices available via voting. This is what they uncovered according to Committee Chairman, Alexander McCurdy:

“To my surprise, there is an amazing amount of enthusiasm, of people saying it’s time to address these things. I was expecting to try to overcome a certain amount of apathy, but the people that engaged us were passionate people that felt that this was a very solid goal.”

Suggestions for improvement:

That Selectmen translate warrant articles into “down and dirty”, plain and simple language to explain what is being voted on without having to sift through legalese.

He wants voters to have a clear enough explanation on warrants so that they know without ambiguity what a “yes” or “no” vote means.

They are suggesting that this simplified language could be distributed along with the warrant articles through online media, local cable television, and through what they term “warrant night”, which would be an informal meeting where voters could show up or call in and ask town officials about the warrant.

That Town Meeting members get the warrant early enough to make an informed decision – to this end, the committee recommends setting earlier deadlines and getting materials out sooner.

Setting up transportation for Seniors to get home when meetings are scheduled or expected to run into darkness or on inclement weather days.

I’m not certain how effective these things will be, but the point is that Littleton, MA is concerned enough about attendance and voter participation to try to find solutions to overcome the fall off in participation. What suggestions have you heard in dealing with the same problem in Billerica, and from whom have you heard it. I and my locally based readers in town would certainly like to know.