Absent those ‘hot-button issues,’ Town Meeting sees low turnout
This year’s peak attendance came on Town Meeting’s third night, when 518 voters turned out.
One year after Town Meeting smashed recent attendance records, 2025 was a comparatively quiet affair.
“Doesn’t this seem like a really low year?” head teller Abe Fisher recalled asking Select Board Clerk Mark Howell.
“The energy was low,” said Town Meeting Study Committee member Kristen Hagerty while reflecting on the meeting’s first night.
In fact, attendance was down. And while there were close votes, longtime observers agreed this year’s sessions felt different. Some blamed scheduling. Some flagged a relative dearth of big-ticket items driving debate.
After a year spent trying to make Town Meeting more accessible and juice participation, Study Committee Chair Eric Moore said he wasn’t surprised.
“Those numbers are typical for Town Meetings without hot-button issues,” he said.
Attendance drop
Just last year, more than 1,100 people showed up for Town Meeting’s opening night. Many were drawn by a controversy over the naming of the new middle school that ended up not being discussed until night two.
This year’s peak attendance came on Town Meeting’s third night, when 518 voters turned out. After the first item, a rezoning proposal to expand Newbury Court senior living, many voters took off.
Excluding 2020 and 2021 — when Acton held shorter Town Meetings due to the Covid pandemic — the 2025 attendance peak was the lowest for an annual Town Meeting since at least 2008 (the earliest year for which online records are available).
“I think June is a tough time for people,” said Town Moderator Carmin Reiss, noting the decision to delay this year’s event due to Concord250 celebrations.
While funding for a proposed bathroom building at Acton-Carlisle High School drew interest on night one, Reiss said recent disagreements over school operating budgets were probably “stronger drivers.”
‘We planted a seed’
This year’s Town Meeting looked different from previous years with its reintroduction of electronic clickers for warrant article votes. Moore said the devices saved time on close votes where tellers would have had to count the yeas and nays. Despite low turnout, he estimated four close votes and said that was abnormally high.
Town Meeting started 30 minutes earlier than usual each night in an effort to finish earlier. Moore liked that change.
Ultimately, he said, the Study Committee’s main recommendation to increase participation was to allow remote participation. Voters advanced the measure for state approval this year, but a green light is far from guaranteed and it could take years to implement.
Moore is taking a long view on attendance.
“We planted a seed,” he said. “We’re a long way from picking an apple from it.”
