Town Meeting: NH Style

There can be a lot of confusion over how town government really works in NH. I assume that every state is different, but you don’t have to be an “outsider” to wonder how a town meeting actually runs and why town residents, new and old, should learn all they can about how it works and why it’s so important for every eligible resident to attend both their annual town meeting and school district meeting.

The residents are the legislative body (that’s you – the registered voter!) that determines very important things like how much the operating budget for the next fiscal year is going to be. And if the bond for a new school is going to pass. And if your town is going to change any one of a myriad of zoning regulations, tax exemptions, or town policies. All these things have the power to impact your tax rate and your rights (or lack thereof).

In light of the importance of informed participation in NH Town Meetings, on January 29, 2006, the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (NHLA), with substantial help from the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers (CNHT), hosted a hands-on training session for all liberty lovers interested in learning more about how town meetings really work in New Hampshire.

Don Gorman, NHLA’s political director, was the moderator of the day. The moderator runs the meeting - keeps track of the amendments, decides if something is out of order,   calls for the votes on the articles and judges whether a motion has passed or failed. The legislative body (the voters) can override the moderator’s decision with a majority vote.

We worked from the actual warrant for the Deerfield, NH school district. Don assigned a few members of the audience to play certain roles in the proceedings. Bill Campbell (really on the Winchester School Board), Dawn Lincoln (Winchester Budget Committee) and Howard Dilworth (Chair of Hudson Budget Committee) were the school board members of the day, charged with explaining and defending the warrant articles before the voters.

Upon arrival, “residents” were asked to sign in so they could be validated as legitimate voters. Usually, the supervisor of the checklist will be in attendance with the voter registration list to verify the voting status of people as they arrive. Non-voters are allowed to attend but are not allowed to vote and can only speak with permission of the moderator and/or legislative body. Typically, they are asked to sit in the back and keep quiet.

The meeting was called to order and the first warrant article for the building of a new high school was read by the moderator. A motion was made and seconded to accept the article as presented. Now this means that the article is up for debate and amendment. Many moderators require amendments to be in writing (so as to alleviate any confusion of what the amendment really is). If an amendment is made, this becomes the topic of conversation and is what the first vote will be taken on.

Let’s say article one is “Shall the Liberty School District raise and appropriate $15,000,000 to build a new high school at 1 School Lane?”. A voter is recognized to speak by the moderator and offers a written amendment to change the article to read “Shall the Liberty School District raise and appropriate $12,500,000 to build a new high school at 1 School Lane?. If the amendment is seconded, the debate will now be about the change to $12,500,000. At some point, the moderator will call for a vote on the amendment with something like “all in favor signify by saying aye” and “all opposed say nay”.

What happens if the voice vote is too close to call? The moderator, or members of the audience, may call for a show of hands. In this instance, the vote will be called for again and people assigned by the moderator or clerk will count the hands to determine the outcome of the vote.

Debate on an amendment and/or original article can become tedious and repetitive so there will often be a request to “move the question”. At this point, the moderator may announce that debate on this article is cut off and that a vote will now be taken. Sometimes, a moderator will let those people that already had their hands up speak before the vote is called for.

There are a few tricks of the trade that are often used to attempt to control the outcome of these meetings. Since these town meetings can be really long, people get tired (or bored or frustrated) and go home. But not everyone! The remaining people can make a motion to reconsider a previously debated and voted upon article. If this motion passes, debate reopens and a new vote will be taken that may be substantially different from the first vote. Never let this happen to you! Don’t leave until the meeting is adjourned! Or make a motion to restrict each article from reconsideration once the vote is called for and declared passed or failed by the moderator.

Another tactic taken in traditional town meeting towns is to make a motion to table an article. If the motion passes, this article will be skipped over until someone else makes a later motion to remove that article from the table. If it is not removed from the table before the meeting is adjourned, there will be no action taken on the article (effectively killing the article).

Some articles are sensitive in nature and people may not be comfortable voting for them in public, so a secret ballot may be asked for. In this instance, voters come up to a table to get a sheet of paper which they are to write something like “article one – yes” to indicate that they favor the passage of article one and slip it into a box. When all eligible voters who wish to do so have voted on the article, the clerk will count the ballots and report the tally to the moderator. A secret ballot must be asked for in advance of the moderator calling for the vote and can even be written down and presented to the moderator in advance of the opening of the meeting.

During our mock town meeting, we tried many of these tricks and had an opportunity to discuss what was going on and why. While debating the various articles we all learned a lot about how these town meetings run and the power in attending such meetings.

NH also has another type of town that does not do their actual voting on warrant articles at the traditional town meeting. Some towns have voted by warrant article to become SB2 towns. This refers to Senate Bill 2 which enabled towns to adopt this style of voting. On difference is that there are two sessions instead of one. The first session (also called the deliberative session) is where the debate and amendments take place. Then the articles, as amended by this session, are what will be presented on the actual ballot. The voting, for town officers and on all warrant articles, takes place in the voting booth, affording each individual a private yes or no vote on each article. This is much more convenient for many people and allows more residents to have a say on the very important issues that will have a direct impact on their lives (and checkbooks!).  

Attendance at the deliberative session in SB2 towns is just as important as it is in traditional town meeting towns. The voters at the deliberative session have been known to radically amend the warrant articles so as to make them unrecognizable. If you wish to preserve language on any warrant articles, leaving it to the voters to decide behind the curtain on Election Day, attending the deliberative session and voting down amendments is the only way.