05/26/2026
In Massachusetts, 292 of the 351 municipalities have a town form of governance. These towns are required to have at minimum an Annual Town Meeting where residents come together as the town’s legislative body to vote on the municipal budgets, approve or deny new legislation (i.e. by-law changes), approve specific projects, and a number of other essential duties. While it is popular to claim that this form of government, which predates the founding of our country, is the first instance of democracy practiced on these lands, the claim ignores the history of the Indigenous peoples that had well-established forms of democracy long before European colonists even showed up.
Most Town Meetings are “open,” meaning that any registered voter can show up and have their vote counted. However, in 1926, the state allowed “larger” (over 6,000 in population) towns to hold elections for Town Meeting Members, and though most towns declined to do so (e.g. Marblehead and Brookline), Swampscott chose to implement this new form of a representative Town Meeting Member body. Town Meetings in both forms have been critiqued in more recent history over how well they represent the broader population.
It is worth asking then: How well do the current Swampscott Town Meeting Members represent the general public today? ..
In Massachusetts, 292 of the 351 municipalities have a town form of governance. These towns are required to have at minimum an Annual Town…
