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The Effect of the Official Ballot Referendum Form of Meeting on the Towns and School Districts of New Hampshire
Brief Description |
Full Report (DOC)Executive Summary
The Traditional open meeting is the system whereby all registered voters in attendance at the annual meeting of the town or school district act as the legislative body. They discuss, potentially amend, and dispose of each warrant article at the meeting. Voters in Official ballot meeting jurisdictions discuss and potentially amend warrant articles at an early deliberative session. The final vote is done by ballot on election day. No-meeting jurisdictions are those in which the voters have ceded their right to participate directly by the establishment of a representative body, usually a city or town council.
- The propensity of a town or school district to adopt the official ballot meeting is more strongly associated with large population than it is with high tax rate. Larger units of local government are much more likely to adopt this method than smaller ones.
- Participation in the deliberative process of the annual meeting is much higher in traditional meeting towns and school districts when compared to official ballot jurisdictions. Participation in each type of jurisdiction is higher in those jurisdictions with smaller populations.
- Approximately three times as many registered voters vote on the town’s budget and special appropriations in official ballot towns compared to traditional open meeting towns. For school districts, the ratio is even greater: nearly five times as many voters voting on the budget in official ballot districts compared to traditional districts.
- Official ballot jurisdictions approve higher spending per capita than do traditional jurisdictions.
- From 1997 to 1998 official ballot towns and districts showed slightly greater rates of increase in their voted appropriations than did open meeting jurisdictions.
- Official ballot jurisdictions are much less likely to pass bond articles than traditional open meeting towns and districts.
New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies