Citizens in Charge

If you’re an advocate of the initiative and referendum process, you should hold Massachusetts in high regard. Although the state currently ties with Oklahoma in having the most restrictive process out of the fifteen states that offer residents full initiative, referendum, and constitutional amendment rights, the open town meeting model that has characterized local governance in the Commonwealth since the 17th century has been the longstanding model for the philosophy of citizen initiated lawmaking that is central to the I&R process.

In fact, despite the legislature’s historical position of restricting the I&R process on the state level, there exists in Massachusetts a wonderful example of good old fashioned New England democracy; the town and city level ballot initiative process. This citizen initiated policymaking, in combination with the town meeting process, serves the residents of Massachusetts well in that it allows citizens to participate in government on a level where their impact can truly be felt in a direct and deliberate way.

Each town and city in Massachusetts has a different form of local I&R process, and citizens are encouraged by the Secretary of the Commonwealth to visit their Town Clerk in order to learn more about their town charter and what rights are afforded to them. In smaller towns with less than 6,000 residents, an open town meeting is guaranteed, which in turn gives residents a greater chance to participate directly in their town’s governing process.

This degree of local democracy is intriguing, and not something that is often seen to such an extent throughout the rest of the nation – a throwback to the fact that most cities and towns in the state were incorporated years before the United States of America existed as a nation independent of Great Britain.

To an advocate of I&R, this level of democratic diversity should at the very least inspire interest, if not admiration. It certainly seems true that encouraging citizens to engage in town and city level affairs is the first step to ensuring a vibrant democratic system on both the state and federal levels. After all, aren’t our governments supposed to exist by the people and for the people? Although the historic state of Massachusetts has placed severe restrictions on the state level I&R process, it is encouraging to see that the open town meeting format and local level democracy have been preserved in so many instances, despite encroachments from both the state legislature and federal government.

In Massachusetts, local politics, from issues of taxation, to environmental conservation, to whether or not a town is “dry” (it doesn’t sell alcohol) differ greatly from town to town. These are just some of the issues that are decided upon locally, through the I&R process, by individual citizens.

Corie Whalen is the Citizens in Charge Foundation Massachusetts Citizen State Coordinator. Find out more information at http://www.citizensincharge.org/states/massachusetts