To the Editor;
The GOP’s Disturbing War on Voters’ Voices.
In a healthy democracy, the will of the people is sacrosanct. Elections are held, votes are counted and the outcome, whether popular or painful, is respected.
In Massachusetts, and in particular, in Mattapoisett, the town meeting form of government is a system whereby citizens directly participate in enacting local laws, passing budgets, and authorizing town spending. It’s a form of direct democracy where registered voters can attend, speak, and vote on matters presented at the meeting, typically outlined in a published Warrant. Mattapoisett’s form of local government is Open Town Meeting.
At an Open Town Meeting, any registered voter may attend and vote on all, or only some, of the matters presented in the Warrant. Attendance is by no means required. The Warrant is circulated well in advance of the meeting date, and it is the responsibility of the voter to educate themselves on the topics covered in each Article and Robert’s Rules of Order.
On May 12, 2025, Mattapoisett held its Annual Open Town Meeting and presented voters with a Warrant comprised of 34 Articles on which to vote. Article 34 was the Citizens’ Petition proposing to expand our current select board from 3 to 5 members. It was the last Article on the warrant as is typical with Citizens’ Petitions.
Article 34 was advanced on the warrant from the last item to be voted on to the 5th. In advance of our Town Meeting, select board member Tyler Macallister appeared on a local radio talk show and discussed how he had planned to ask that Article 34 be moved up on the warrant and encouraged registered voters to vote against it. Neither this sponsor nor its proponents of the Article played any part in asking the Moderator to advance the Article on the warrant for voting purposes. With no objection being raised, Article 34 was voted on as the 5th matter.
There was vigorous debate in the public forum, and after an effort to derail voting on the substance of Article 34 was voted down, Town Meeting voters approved Article 34 to increase our select board to 5 members by a simple majority, all that was legally required. The Moderator always has discretion to call the vote based on a show of hands or by voice and there was no objection at the time to the vote count nor a request for an actual count under Robert’s Rules of Order.
After two subsequent Select Board meetings, the Board conceded that legally they could not impede the submission of the Citizen’s Petition to our State Legislative delegation for filing of Legislation, the first step in the process of becoming law. However, not before certain members of our Select Board attempted to argue that the vote on this Article was somehow invalid because attendees left after voting and didn’t stay for the remainder of the meeting; or they felt the vote was further invalidated because non-registered voters participated in the vote, for which there was no evidence.
In recent years we have seen a growing faction within the Republican Party take a very dark turn, one that undermines the very foundations of democratic rule. We are experiencing a dangerous trend not just of questioning election outcomes, but of actively working to override or suppress them.
Across the Country we have seen state legislatures stripping power from elected officials simply because they are Democrats. We have read about partisan election boards refusing to certify the results of elections they don’t like. There have been documented instances of brazen gerrymandering and purging of voter rolls in an effort to dilute the voice of Democratic voters.
The GOP nationally has embraced tactics that prioritize political control over public consent. The seismic moment in this movement was Trump’s refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 election which he lost. Since then, the GOP across the country, including here now locally in Mattapoisett, has led efforts to subvert the will of the voters.
As an example of this disturbing trend, look no further than what Chair of the Mattapoisett Republican Town Committee is advocating. The Mattapoisett GOP Chair is circulating a Citizen’s Petition which seeks to override and suppress the will of Mattapoisett voters by “repealing Article 34”. Article 34 passed at Town Meeting by the simple majority legally required.
The hypocrisy of the GOP is staggering. This party claims to be a champion of freedom and local control. Yet, when those freedoms lead to outcomes they disagree with, it abandons principle for power. This should be alarming to all voters.
Democracy is not a partisan issue. You don’t have to be a Democrat, Republican or anything in between to recognize the danger in refusing to honor the voice of the voters. When anyone, whether they be elected politicians or a local political party leader, tries to silence, suppress or sideline voters to cling to control, we are no longer talking about democratic disagreement. We are talking about authoritarian drift.
The voters of Mattapoisett have spoken. Silence in the face of erosion is complicity. Listen to their voices and accept the outcome of the vote at Town Meeting. Drop the efforts to repeal Article 34.
Respectfully,
Nicki Demakis, Author of Citizen’s Petition/Article 34
Mattapoisett
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