Wakefield – Vote YES on Question 1 on April 23rd

Wakefield friends and neighbors:
I urge you to vote YES on Question 1 at the Town Election on Tuesday, April 23rd at the Galvin Middle School. Question 1 is a proposed change to the Town Charter – to increase the number of signatures required to force a town-wide election to challenge a YES decision of Town Meeting voters from 200 signatures to 2.5% of registered voters (about 460 signatures). This change was studied for over two years by the Town’s Charter Review Committee and passed overwhelmingly at the last Town Meeting. It must now go before the town as all changes to the Charter require a townwide vote.

Requiring just 200 signatures to force a special election has created a unique vulnerability in our democracy. Recently, a small group of citizens has exploited this flaw to force special election votes on the public safety building and a downtown parking garage after passing overwhelmingly at Town Meeting. Unfortunately, signature collectors can and have provided blatantly false information to get residents to sign a petition.

Regardless of how you feel about Town Meeting itself, our form of government is not changing any time soon. In the meantime, it’s important we protect the will of Town Meeting voters. Attempting to void a democratic decision made by Town Meeting voters is a momentous action, and should be undertaken only in exceptional circumstances. Few towns in the state even have this option, and of those that do, most require anywhere from 3% to 10% of voters to force a special election.

We have important issues Town Meeting will vote on in the near future – including a high school feasibility study and a new proposal for much needed improvements to the Public Safety Building – that will be subject to the petition option. There are already groups who stand ready to oppose these projects.

The current 200 signature requirement is too low to represent the gravity of a special election proposal. Increasing the number of signatures required to 460 (or 2.5% of voters) is a modest yet still attainable approach. Opponents are calling this voter suppression, yet at no time does it prevent any of Wakefield’s 18,000+ voters from signing a referendum petition nor from voting in any election.

Please join me in voting YES on Question 1 at the Town Election on Tuesday, April 23rd at the Galvin Middle School.

Additional resources:

What is Question 1?
https://wakefieldyesonquestion1.wordpress.com/2019/04/03/what-is-question-1/

Myths and Facts on Question 1
https://wakefieldyesonquestion1.wordpress.com/2019/04/15/myths-and-facts-on-question-1/

Sincerely,
Rich Greif