A Civic Discussion: Town Election & ATM

By Larry Overlan

Well done, citizens of Canton! Thirty-four percent of registered voters cast ballots on April 2. This exceeded the previous year by more than 2,000. So much for those advocating for changing the date for town elections due to low turnout. Spaced-out dates for elections allow voters to consider the issues regarding the contests more closely rather than lumping everything together from the U.S. president to U.S. House of Representatives to state Senate to town library commissioner. I believe that’s called information overload. What really is needed to increase turnout is more candidates. In 2022, Massachusetts led the country in uncontested legislative seats, for example, with a whopping 63 percent. The next five were southern states. Hmmm, maybe we were the birthplace of democracy, but now we are the land of the uncontested incumbents!

Regarding those who believe there is some kind of mandate for change, this is usually measured by “out with the old and in with the new” or non-incumbents. There were nine town offices on the ballot with 12 seats to be filled. Neither the five-year Housing Authority seat nor the two-year Planning Board vacancy had incumbents, leaving seven offices with incumbents, two of which, Town Clerk and Board of Health, were uncontested. All three incumbent library trustees were victorious as were the incumbent members of the Board of Assessors, Planning Board and School Committee. In the final race, a four-way contest for two Select Board seats, one incumbent won (Mike Loughran) and the other lost (Tom Theodore). Final incumbent tally: nine out of 10 won reelection. So much for those claiming change has arrived. What has arrived are more challenges to the incumbents. Let’s hope this continues in the fall of this year for state-level offices.

On to the next exercise in democracy. Canton’s Annual Town Meeting will commence on Monday, May 13, at 7 p.m. at Canton High School. There are 37 articles to be voted on, the MBTA zoning issue being the most controversial. Milton took the lead in protesting the mandate a few months ago, to which Massachusetts Attorney General Joy Campbell imposed fines and sued Milton. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is now reviewing the issue. A fall 2024 decision is expected. My guess is that the SJC will decide that the state has the authority to impose these new multi-family zoning requirements (a law passed by our state representatives) on the 177 cities and towns in the eastern half of the commonwealth. If that turns out to be true, a 2026 referendum question will be the only remedy for the opposition since the Democratic-controlled executive and legislative branches are committed to this state takeover of town zoning.

I offer a new and different argument against this state encroachment. The Third Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights of 1791, states the following: “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” However, before the British passed this requirement in 1774 (after the 1770 Boston Tea Party) to place soldiers in private homes, they had passed the Quartering Act of 1765, which required the colonists to provide housing (but not in private homes until 1774) for the soldiers in places such as inns, uninhabited barns and alms houses, etc. Are we facing a new Quartering Act, where the towns are being forced to provide housing against their will? The future inhabitants may not be soldiers, but they are being forced into our communities after two centuries where the local communities decided their own zoning requirements for housing. And this of course begs the question of what happens when all the new multi-family units are occupied? Will the next step mimic the British expansion to include private homes that are deemed underutilized?

Many other towns are awakening to the Great State Takeover, and they too are considering their options. I will have another column on this issue and other town meeting items in my next column due out on May 9, shortly before the TM showdown. I expect the sides for and against this zoning issue will look very similar to the players in the past election. I will be voting against the zoning changes at the town meeting.

P.S. All are welcome at the next meeting of the Canton Republican Town Committee (CRTC) on Saturday, April 13, at 10 a.m. at the Canton Public Library.

Larry Overlan is an adjunct professor of economics and government at several Boston area colleges, a longtime resident of Canton, and the current president of the Canton Republican Town Committee. The views expressed in his column are solely his own.

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