Opinion: A Number Of Issues With Stoneham's Town Meeting

A Letter to the Editor from Bill Dunn:

As a lifelong resident of Stoneham, I would like to express my concerns about what I observed
after attending our recent town meeting on May 6th . I was disappointed to see the particularly
poor participation rate at town meeting this year. After an apparent vote on funding a feasibility
study for a new high school, a significant percent of the small number of people in attendance
got up and left leaving town hall practically empty.

As the evening progressed even more people left and we hadn’t even addressed any of the
citizens’ petitions. If town meeting is supposed to be representative of the community, it would
be best for the community if more people participated. The last time I checked we had just
under 22,000 residents in Stoneham. Only about 100 people (less than one percent of the
population) were left voting on important articles one of which included the ability to recall any
elected official.

The low participation rate by Stoneham residents, and the fact that town meeting is subject to
manipulation by people who only turn out to vote for single issues in which they have an interest
makes me wonder if the time has not come when we must recognize that Stoneham has
outgrown the old town meeting form of government and should be considering a more modern
structure.

Just as troubling as the low participation at town meeting was the fact that people continued to
enter the Auditorium late into the evening after the election workers had gone home. The same
people who I watched enter the auditorium without being confirmed as actually registered voters
voted on the articles. Given the small number of people in attendance, the decision on articles
could have come down to one or two votes. There would be no way to confirm that the folks
who entered late without being confirmed as registered voters voted legally.

Voter integrity is critical to our electoral process. This is not only important at the ballot box but
is equally important at town meeting where all the financial matters are voted upon. The town
has to a better job at this in the future and assure all of us that every legal vote counts.

Bill Dunn, Kays Road