By: Kevin Dube – 5/12
On the North Andover Town Meeting warrant is a citizens’ petition to move the town election to the last Tuesday in April from its current position at the end of March. This is a completely non-partisan measure designed to increase civic participation and promote our democratic process.
The 10 people that signed the petition to bring this on the warrant are from a broad swath of the political spectrum, registered Democrats, Republicans, and unenrolled, including members of both the Republican and Democratic town committees. This is quite likely the only time all of us that signed have stood on the same side of a political issue.
Our reasons for bringing this are as follows:
Increase number of candidates. The last 2 elections have been uncontested. The selectboard has been uncontested since 2021. The last time the elections for SB and SC were fully contested was 2017!
The time to pull papers is simply too early. In January people are recovering from holidays, catching up on bills, and generally dealing with winter. Under current rules the last day to draw papers is late January/ early February, ranging from January 31st to February 6th. This is well before many are looking seriously at the upcoming issues facing the town, such as the town budget and other important matters.
Should this pass the last day to pull papers this year would have been March 14, and the range will be March 9th to March 15th. I can only imagine that this year particularly those extra weeks would have brought out more candidates to run.
The next issue is campaigning. Running for office in February and early to mid-March is terrible. It is bitterly cold and frequently snows. Not only is this not conducive to typical campaign activities such as door knockings and stand outs, it can be outright dangerous. Icy stairs and sidewalks are a recipe for disaster.
This is exemplified in that in 2022 school committee member Joe Hicks suffered a broken ankle after he slipped on ice early in the campaign. Danger aside, no one wants to open their door to talk to a canvasser when it’s 16 degrees out. Additionally, daylight savings time doesn’t start until the 2nd Sunday in March, allowing at best 2 weeks during which candidates can door knock on weeknights without it being dark out.
Moving the election to the end of March will ensure that there are many more daylight hours for campaign activities such as door knocking, and that the weather should be significantly warmer encouraging more people to open their doors.
Lastly is turnout and overall participation. Contested elections drive greater turnout. People feel more connected and more involved when there is a choice presented to them. Given the timing of these elections and their proximity to Town Meeting, voters will be more aware of goings on that may affect them and our town with the election now happening after the warrant is finalized.
Why the last Tuesday in April?
It makes the most sense. Any later and it could end up the same night as Town Meeting. The last Tuesday in May would be the day after Memorial Day. This would place an undue burden on the town clerk and potentially cost the town overtime should the clerk’s office need to come in on Monday to prep for the election. By June many are looking at summer activities and turnout could be down.
Also, having the election after Town Meeting could turn it into a campaign event, and take away from the business at hand. We could have dozens of people standing up for each warrant article making campaign speeches or plugging their preferred candidate and their position on the matter. Therefore, the last Tuesday in April makes the most sense.
Looking at the surrounding towns, North Andover and Andover currently have the earliest. Looking at 25 nearby communities, 76% have their town election within 3 weeks of Town Meeting. Danvers, a similar sized community with about 1,000 more voters than North Andover holds their election 2 weeks prior to Town Meeting, just as we are proposing here. It just makes sense that we do it as well. Please join me in voting to move our town election! ◊