Owen Carpenter-Zehe reported this story on assignment from the White River Valley Herald. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
The members of the Town Meeting Committee in Bethel know that voting comes with complex logistical challenges that can impede civic engagement. Residents who want to participate in elections need to source childcare, find transportation and make the time amid job and life demands. Even understanding the 17th century systems of what’s known in Vermont as Town Meeting Day can hinder voters.
The Vermont Secretary of State has found that such roadblocks do affect attendance: In Bethel, an average of 150-300 voters out of a possible 1,300 have cast ballots on in Town Meeting Day for the past 10 years, according to statewide statistics collected by the office’s Elections Division. . Some years, turnout for Australian ballot voting fell as low as 10% in Bethel, the data show. For Town Meeting Day floor votes, for which residents attend in person to raise their hands in favor or against budget proposals and other items, typically draw even fewer participants.
These are the hurdles that the committee aims to overcome. On March 5, which is Town Meeting Day in Vermont this year, Bethel voters will in person decide whether to approve a $3.1 million town budget, a proposed $27,500 increase to the local library’s budget and a possible addition of $25,000 to the three-year-old Bethel Food Shelf. For the first time this year, they will vote by Australian ballot, a paper version that’s done in secret, for the election of town officials. March 5 is also Super Tuesday, during which Vermont and 14 other states will hold their presidential primaries for voters to choose their candidates in either the Republican or Democratic parties.
“Overall, it’s not about showing up and getting in your seat to argue over budgets,” said Rebecca Stone, a Town Meeting Committee member and co-owner of Community Workshop, an international consulting firm that develops engagement ideas for localities and organizations.
“In Bethel, it’s really become more about showing up and being part of the community and reconnecting with neighbors in March.”
She outlined what the Committee is doing to improve access to voting.
The committee, which the town formed to improve town meeting outreach and involvement, has focused on accessibility. The group intends to coordinate volunteer drivers to pick up voters who need transportation. Local eighth-graders are scheduled to babysit participants’ children. Another platoon of students will dash around the room with microphones for people with mobility limitations who want to speak. The committee is improving signage and adding accessible seating.
Beyond accessibility, committee members also want to make town meeting voting fun. The meeting will open at 9 a.m. with coffee and pie brought by now-retired Town Meeting Committee member and perennial pie provider Jean Burnham.
And for the first time, the meeting will kick off with an opening ceremony led by the White River Valley School Wildcat Cheer Squad. The cheer, Stone specified, is intended for voters. “It’s not very often that voters get cheers.”
The committee also has invited community tables by any organization that wants to join. At last year’s meeting, 15 groups had tables.
Bethel founded its Town Meeting Committee in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 to help the community reconnect after the disaster. This led to a town talk by Susan Clark, an author and town moderator in Middlesex, who is known as a leader in democratic engagement in Vermont. Many of Bethel’s engagement ideas grew out of Clark’s talk. Building upon that initial work, the accessibility efforts were discussed during last year’s town meeting.
With permission to borrow from Middlesex’s town manual, Bethel created its own version. It outlines all aspects of living in Bethel and includes a section on town meeting that, among other entries, describes the three acceptable ways to vote from the floor: by raising a hand, standing or saying “aye.” The manual is available on the town’s website.
Town Meeting Day dates to 1762, before Vermont was a state, with the first gathering held in Bennington. It has remained virtually the same practice since, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Stone herself has experienced the confusion of town meetings. When she moved to Bethel around 2007, she “found it incredibly hard to move into this community and have any idea how it worked, or how to get involved, or how to meet anyone, even though I wanted to.”
The committee recognizes that other Bethel residents share that sentiment, particularly about their local elections. For example, the list of voting items is called a “warning,” which “is not exactly a welcoming message,” Stone said.
A person’s involvement where they live – politically and socially – is crucial, Stone added. “The stronger we are as towns and the more connected we feel as individuals — and there’s so much great research showing how that leaves us happier, people live longer lives — of course, it strengthens our boards and committees and helps our towns move forward.”