An old friend once told me that when it comes to national politics, she feels like an ant in an ant hill. We follow the news, speak our opinions, protest sometimes, and we definitely vote, yet we have little overall influence on the national level. Town government, however, is another matter. There have been instances here where one vote really did make the difference. I’ve always felt that my voice was heard, and that my vote counted. Until recently.

Town leaders have disappointed many of us. Of the 254 residents who voted against the Selectmen’s proposal to abolish the Board of Finance, there were voters who were still debating the need for a brand new bucket truck as the only method for removing dangerous trees. There were those who were concerned that their right to vote on the purchase was pre-empted. There were many people who were opposed to the Selectmen’s attempt to abolish an oversight agency for providing oversight. There were those who supported a finance board from the start, and obviously many more who have been convinced of the need since.

My gravest concern was the Selectmen’s efforts to thwart citizen participation. The First Selectman offered – “I’m a pragmatic minimalist” – as the reason why it was necessary to rush the decision on abolishing the board of finance, but I don’t buy it. It was about disenfranchising voters. There’s ample evidence to support this opinion. We’ve always avoided votes during the holidays and inclement weather. The legal notice warning the Town Meeting and referendum were never published on any of the bulletin boards at Town Hall. The referendum was not posted on the Town website – not even on the day of the vote – though the First Selectman’s opinion on the question was accessible on the opening page, along with an enormous “cancellation notice”. The Minutes of the Special Town Meeting held to discuss the issue were never posted for people unable to attend, in violation of the Freedom of Information Act, and the “emergency” special meetings to schedule the town meeting and the referendum were posted precisely five minutes before the legal deadline – should we check at Town Hall every half hour from now on to see if we’re missing something? There was confusion over the fact that the referendum was on a Monday, rather than on the customary Tuesday, and the structure of the question itself was confusing for many voters. Confusion was furthered on the night before, and the day of, the referendum, with false narratives broadcasting “Celebrate Public Safety with a Yes Vote” on social media sites which removed clarification of what the question actually was. Access to absentee ballots was significantly reduced because of Town Hall holiday closings on half of the days they were open, and the absentee ballots themselves contained a whole lot of superfluous information, some of which was interpreted by recipients as an unambiguous attempt to influence the vote. Selectmen marginalized residents of certain religions in the scheduling of meetings and votes with the disturbing response that there weren’t enough of us to matter. The First Selectman called a petition a “threat” in reaction to requests that residents decide the fate of the Board of Finance at a referendum rather than a town meeting, which was the original plan. When it was noted that a referendum is necessary to provide elderly residents who don’t drive at night a voice, another selectman said he was disturbed when only a dozen citizens attend the town meeting and hundreds vote in the referendum, and wondered aloud – where do they get their information? We spend a lot of time with some of the elders in town. We interview them for their wealth of knowledge of town history, run errands for them, invite them to our holiday dinners, shovel their snow. Trust me – they’re informed. They actually discuss intelligently the issues facing the town, the state, and the nation. And they vote. Sixty percent of our voters are senior citizens, and they vote. They might not be able to drive, or even to walk any more, but they exercise their rights.

And then there was the scheduling of a referendum during the only month the Gazette isn’t published without an alternate plan for disseminating information pertinent to the vote. This decision forced us to publish an unprecedented Special Edition, at a considerable cost of time and money, in order to notice the referendum date, time and question, to summarize the history of the issue, to publish the positions of both the Boards of Finance and Selectmen on the topic, in short: the news. For this, the Selectmen are punishing us by not publishing a monthly column and by removing The Hampton Gazette and its link from the community listings on the Town website. Oh, well.

I left the last few meetings in town feeling more like a minority person than usual. My culture celebrates different holidays, has a different reverence for elders, and definitely holds a different view than those who suggested citizens should never challenge authority! But with the 426 ballots cast with the belief in a participatory government, and 254 favoring the system of checks and balances that holds leaders accountable, I left the referendum feeling not so alone.

Juan Arriola, Chairman