Would a Different Form of Government Make a Difference in Westborough?

I will first cut to the chase and state my conclusion:

There is no panacea when it comes to the form of local government we choose for ourselves.  If people don’t bother to participate, then it is left to the few that do participate, that do care, to direct the course of local government and the decisions it makes.

What inspired me to write this post was a link to a newspaper article I was sent regarding the results of elections in the nearby Town of Framingham.

 (http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/newsnow/x1431006669/Rizoli-brothers-voted-off-Framingham-Town-Meeting).

The article highlighted the fact that the Rizzoli brothers lost their seats as town meeting representatives. Let’s put aside the fact that I don’t have any sympathy for the guys who lost, what we really astounded me were the voting tallies.

Let me start off with some facts about Framingham’s government. Framingham, with a population of 68,318 as of the last census, has a representative Town Meeting, as opposed to Westborough’s open Town Meeting.  Framingham elects 72 Town Meeting representatives, four from each of its 18 voting precincts.  Simple math shows that each precinct represents about 3800 residents so each Town Meeting member technically represents about 950 people.

So here is where it gets interesting.

According to the article, in Precinct 14 six people ran for the four seats.  The winners got between 54 and 65 votes each and the Rizzoli brothers got 19 and 20 votes between the two of them.  If each voter got to vote for 4 candidates, that suggests that the total turn out for that precinct was about 70 residents. That’s 70 voters out of a total population of 3,800. Let’s generously assume that 60% of the residents are voting age adults, so that’s 70 eligible residents out of about 2300 or about 3% turnout. So, in Precinct 14, perhaps 70 voters got to decide which four people would represent the interests of 3800 residents of Framingham.

The article goes on to say that total turnout in Framingham was 9% of registered voters. Wow.

Keep in mind that 9% of registered voters are not 9% of Framingham’s residents.

So Framingham is a case study regarding another form of local government and the obvious conclusion is that not a whole lot of people take an active role or interest in it, which is the complaint I often hear about our Open Town Meeting.

I have said it before and I will say it again. Democracy can be inconvenient at the local level but if you don’t like the decisions being made, or want to have your voice heard, then your only choice is to participate, one way or another.