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| Via Clipart Library |
This milestone started me thinking about how voting has changed since the pandemic struck in 2020, particularly at the local level. In many small towns with the town meeting style of government, voter turnout is generally low for both local elections and ATM attendance. This has also been the case in Shutesbury.
Let’s look at voting behavior before and after the pandemic hit in early 2020, nationally and here in Shutesbury.
2020 Was a Banner Year for Voting
Before the pandemic, many articles bemoaned the consistently low turnout of voters during local elections, even among those who voted in national elections. A 2018 New York Times opinion piece suggested that timing was the problem, and proposed aligning local and national elections to increase participation at the local level.
On the national level, approximately 67% of eligible American voters cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election, the highest number in 120 years. More than ⅔ of those voters chose early voting and mail-in ballots rather than voting at traditional polling locations.
I reviewed the data for Shutesbury, using information available on the town’s website and statistics provided to me by our Town Clerk.
86.3% of Shutesbury voters cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election;
44.2% voted in the 2018 state primary and 78.5% voted in the state election;
65% voted in the 2020 presidential primary, 58.7% voted in the MA state primary, and 89% of town voters cast ballots in the presidential election.
Like the rest of the country, a high percentage of registered Shutesbury voters cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election. This was typical behavior for our town since nearly as many also voted in the 2016 national election. We exhibit high participation rates for state elections as well.
Local Election Participation Lags State and National Turnout
As in other American communities, this vigorous voting behavior is not mirrored by Shutesbury when it comes to local elections, as we can see from this chart.
Shutesbury Annual Town Meeting
Source: Annual Town Reports, Shutesbury.org, and the Shutesbury Town Clerk (unless otherwise specified)
*FY2020 Annual Report
**Unofficial Town Election Results
***Both sets of numbers contained in the FY2022 Annual Report
While participation in Shutesbury ATM before the pandemic was dismal, things have perked up a bit since. Even without the 2020 voter sign-in data for ATM, the number of ballots cast was phenomenal. Participation in town elections has remained higher since, compared to the four years preceding the pandemic. This is likely due to the continued availability of early and mail-in ballot voting.
The Shutesbury election with the highest voter participation was seen during the successful June 28, 2022 debt exclusion vote for the new library. A total of 829 ballots were cast, resulting in a 54% turnout rate. Previously, at the best-attended ATM in years, a majority of citizens present voted to pursue funding for the project. The unusually high attendance could be attributed to the get-out-the-vote campaign initiated by the Shutesbury Library Trustees and an online pledge/signup sheet organized by library supporters.
Unfortunately, attendance at Shutesbury’s 2023 ATM returned to pre-pandemic lows, though ballot voting was still more robust than in the four years before 2020.
Can Local Election Involvement be Improved?
Other Massachusetts towns have asked this question too–with different results.
In Andover, the paltry 2% voter turnout at their ATM prompted town officials to float the idea of changing Andover’s local government structure. Sadly, so few citizens expressed interest in town government in any form that the study committee could not justify support for change and said so.
Ashland took a different tack. Between 2016 and 2019, town officials used a variety of tactics to increase residents’ trust in local government and motivate them to become more invested in the town. The program worked so well that Ashland substantially increased ATM attendance and the town was a finalist for the national Voice of the People Award for Transformation in Community Engagement.
Can Shutesbury do the same? The turnout in 2022 proves that an issue of significant local interest–the construction of a new public library–paired with personal appeals and plenty of advertising can turn the tide against apathy.
This year, the Town Moderator and the Shutesbury Town Meeting Clicker Study Group are inviting residents to fill out a survey regarding their attitudes about ATM. Notably, the email about the survey acknowledges the concern Shutesbury residents have expressed about others critiquing their voting behavior during public voting at ATM. That is an issue that needs exploring if town officials want to ramp up community involvement in any context.
The fact sheet about voting with clickers is accessible here:
https://www.shutesbury.org/town_meeting
Here is the address for the survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc_fl7086hRWFT69WX3kXQW1_1QNk4b98zB8lOkJAMOOtqxNA/viewform
Please let town officials know how you feel.
Possibly related is this agenda item for the Select Board meeting on Tuesday, April 23:
Moderator Report to the Selectboard on Electronic Voting Study Group
It will be interesting to see if this study group is related to the clicker study group. There is no information on either group on the town website, which is unusual. I suppose we will have to attend this meeting to be educated about this new development.
