CHELSEA — Residents decided on two articles regarding voting logistics at a special Town Meeting on Thursday night, preserving traditional floor meetings for budget articles but moving other questions to the polls in the future.
Chelsea’s shift away from a traditional Town Meeting, at least for some questions, is aimed at increasing voter participation, according to members of the Selectboard who proposed the change.
Out of 937 registered voters in the town as of Town Meeting in March, 47 showed up at the town hall for Thursday’s special meeting.
“A number of folks have said they can’t make Town Meeting,” Selectboard Chairman Levar Cole said.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, floor meeting turnout and voter participation was dwindling, Selectman Henry Cesari added. Town meeting attendance fell to 90 voters in 2019, and has been decreasing since, with only 47 registered voters at Town Meeting in March, he said — the same number as for the special meeting Thursday.
The special meeting generated a rich debate between residents who defended the tradition of floor meetings and residents who were in favor of moving to ballot voting.
Article 1 asked voters if the town should vote on all public questions by Australian ballot. Anything besides bond votes, budget articles and elections of town officers is considered a public question, according to Town Clerk Karen Lathrop, though the town voted in December to elect town officers by Australian ballot.
After an hour of discussion, residents moved to call a paper-ballot vote, and Article 1 passed by a single vote: 23-22, with 1 blank.
Article 2, which asked voters if they should adopt all budget articles by Australian ballot, was less controversial: 26-12 against, again with 1 blank vote, preserving floor meetings for budget articles.
The bulk of the discussion focused on the first article. Several residents spoke up about ways to help increase voter participation while still preserving traditional floor meetings, such as using technology for alternative ways of voting, changing the date of Town Meeting to a weekend and providing musical or other forms of entertainment.
“I feel like we could be doing a lot more to engage our community without giving up Town Meeting,” Heidi Chapman said.
Phyllis Hayward spoke up for the younger generation of soon-to-be Chelsea voters.
“Our major goal should be to engage (young) people in this process,” she said.
Town Meeting is a beloved tradition, and witnessing and participating in such a process is a valuable opportunity, she argued.
“What goes on in town is important, and I take Town Meeting Day off,” resident Linda Kuban said.
Lathrop pointed out that she has heard from many residents who are unable to attend meetings whose votes could be counted if the town moved to Australian ballot.
Selectboard Vice Chairman Mark Whitney added that particularly with widespread worker shortages, not everyone can skip work to attend meetings.
Several Selectboard members acknowledged that they would prefer to be able to continue the tradition of floor meetings, but better voter participation is a bigger concern.
Cindy Allen stood and spoke in favor of ballot voting, noting the concern of low voter turnout at in-person floor meetings.
A couple voters questioned whether moving to ballot voting would lead to more uninformed votes, since people who attend floor meetings are generally invested in town business.
“As citizens, we have an obligation to be aware of what’s going on,” Cole said.
Cesari, the Selectboard member, added that becoming an Australian ballot town would not eliminate informational meetings, where debate could still take place.
In support of retaining floor meetings for budgets, Kasey Peterson argued that budgets deserve the kind of attention that the meetings offer. Peterson noted that voters amended and increased the town budget by $30,000 in March.
Without floor meetings and the power to amend articles, the process of changing budgets would be more drawn-out, involving an informational meeting, a ballot vote against the proposed budget, a newly proposed budget reflecting the town discussion and then another ballot vote.
Rose Terami can be reached at rosoterami@gmail.com.