Report:Voter Participation in Hanover

Many of the recommendations in the League’s 1991 report have been enacted, the most significant of which is that Town Meeting ballot voting and the business meeting are now held on the same day. The League of Women Voters sends birthday cards to 18-year-olds, encouraging them to register to vote. An updated version of "Know Your Officials" is distributed annually. In addition, the town has accomplished much in its effort to make the Annual Report and Town Meeting warrant more "user-friendly." In the year 2001, the Dresden School Board solicited comprehensive public input through establishment of the Dresden Building Options Committee. Nevertheless, because participation continues to fall, it is clear that greater understanding and greater effort on a broader front are needed to reverse the trend.

Further recommendations are divided into three major areas of positive action:

Suggestions are offered "across the board" within each area for citizens, organizations, elected and appointed officials, and town and school administrators – in short, all facets of the community.

 

I. THE NEED TO SIMPLIFY

The presence of Dartmouth and the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center make Hanover and its surrounding towns a regional center with an enviable richness of community resources. In Hanover, the magnitude of the community’s attributes and governmental responsibilities, however, is large in relation to the size of its population base. The pool of potential voters and candidates is probably reduced by an understandable lack of interest in and commitment to the Hanover community by transient populations such as the students, younger Dartmouth faculty, Dartmouth Hitchcock medical residents and some business employees, who are uncertain of the length of their stay here.

The situation is further burdened by the unusual complexity of the school districts. The Hanover School District has responsibility for the single elementary school (Bernice A. Ray School), while the middle and high schools are the responsibility of the Dresden School District, which was created with Congressional approval by an interstate compact with Norwich, VT. The Dresden District also serves tuition paying students from as many as 14 other New Hampshire and Vermont towns. The Town of Hanover is governed by both local ordinances and New Hampshire state statutes applicable to towns. The Hanover School District is governed by New Hampshire statutes while the Dresden School District is governed by statutes pertaining to schools in both New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as the interstate compact.

The result is a plethora of town and school meetings and times for voting such that fully 40% of the days of the year are scheduled for one or the other. The procedures under which they are conducted, including notification of meetings, are often difficult to comprehend.

Thus, it seems that as municipal and school governance has become more complex, the average voter has drifted further away from participation. The following set of recommendations is directed at possibilities for simplifying some aspects of local practice in the hopes that a less daunting array will encourage greater participation.

 

Town and School Boards and Administration

RECOMMENDATION: Town and School meetings should work to achieve an atmosphere in which the public is encouraged to voice opinions with sufficient time allotted for all points of view and the assurance that all voices will be heard.

RECOMMENDATION: Public Hearings are also important for debate. They should be warned far enough in advance and with sufficient background information available for the public to want to attend and participate.

RECOMMENDATION: As major decisions, including bond issues, are made at both town and school annual meetings, taxpayers and other residents should be encouraged to vote absentee. The process for absentee voting should be clarified in annual reports, in newspapers, on CATV, and on web pages.

RECOMMENDATION: Since annual reports are costly to produce and mail, they should be used to full advantage in informing the public. Additional suggestions for annual reports are in the "Include and Communicate" portion of this report.

School

RECOMMENDATION: Distinguish between the names of the two school districts: Hanover School District Meeting (Ray School) and Dresden District Meeting (Richmond/High School). Clearly indicate that the Annual Report includes reports for both districts and that each of the two school districts has its own meeting date and procedures.

RECOMMENDATION: Consider the advantages and disadvantages of changing the Hanover School Meeting (Ray School) format so that both the Hanover School Meeting(Ray) and Dresden School Meeting (Richmond/High School) could be held on the same day . Norwich uses this procedure. Voting comparisons are available.

League of Women Voters