It has been nearly two years since a home rule petition passed at the May 2023 Annual Town Meeting that would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in municipal elections. After failing to be enacted by the state legislature last year, it has been resubmitted as House Docket 106 by Representatives Simon Cataldo and Danillo Sena.
At the May 2024 annual town election, an historically large override passed by the slimmest of margins — about 45 votes, or 0.8%. I know for a fact that some teachers were violating ethics rules, lobbying their voting-aged students during the school day. The Acton Boxborough Education Association abused their unfettered access to this block of non-taxpaying voters. Given the tiny margin by which this article passed at the ballot box, it stands to reason that voting-aged high school students may have impacted the outcome.
Now imagine the ABEA has access to over 1,000 uninformed voters, none of whom pay property taxes. They could push for an override every year and they’d likely win. They could pack Town Meetings to push through their preferred warrants without any consideration for the impact on residents.
The Acton Finance Committee has been holding “listening sessions”. Not speaking for any other members, what I have heard is that seniors are heavily burdened by rapidly rising property taxes that they are unable to absorb on a fixed income. Many worry if they’ll be able to remain in Acton.
After every controversial Town Meeting, we hear from seniors and others who are either physically not able to attend or who can come but can’t sit for hours late into the night. It is unconscionable that we’d prioritize enabling teenagers to vote ahead of creating systems and/or processes that would allow actual taxpayers, many of whom have contributed to our community for decades, to have a say in how their property taxes are spent.
Please write to the Select Board at sb@actonma.gov and ask that they request House Docket 106 be withdrawn. If Acton residents really want this, they can vote for it again at the next Annual Town Meeting.
Corinne Hogseth
(member of Acton Finance Committee, writing on my own behalf)