GREENFIELD — Over the last few weeks, passersby may have noticed red signs beginning to crop up on lawns around the city — an effort by a local campaign committee in advance of the Nov. 2 election.
The signs, placed by the Fair Referendum Committee, are urging voters to vote “no” on a ballot question that calls for changing the number of voter signatures required by the city charter for a citizens referendum petition from the current threshold of 10% of voters voting in the most recent biennial city election to 7% of all registered voters in the most recent biennial city election.
The 7% threshold, which was recommended to the full City Council by the Appointments and Ordinances Committee, demonstrates a compromise between those who wished to see the threshold return to the 5% of registered voters required by the original charter in the year 2000 — before it was amended in 2010 to the current threshold — and the 10% of all registered voters in the last biennial election, which had been recommended by the now-disbanded Charter Review Committee.
But members of the Fair Referendum Committee — co-chaired by Mary Siano and Brickett Allis, with Al Norman as treasurer — say the proposed charter change would make its harder to challenge a vote by the City Council, and as such are asking voters to vote “no” on the question and keep the current language in place.
“The language we have now is not broken,” Norman said.
For reference, 5,557 votes were cast out of a possible 11,880 registered voters in the 2019 election — an election that included a mayoral race, contested races on City Council and a referendum question. Per the current charter — and using those numbers — a citizens referendum would require 10% of voters voting, or 557 signatures, while the proposed change would require 7% of the 11,880 registered voters at the time, or 832 signatures.
Currently, Greenfield has about 12,915 registered voters.
The Fair Referendum Committee, Norman explained, was formed not only to encourage a “no” vote on the ballot question; it also aims to encourage people, in general, to get out and vote.
“We want to encourage people to vote because … there is one School Committee race and one assessor’s race, but on the top of the ballot for the City Council, there are no contested races and two empty seats,” Norman said. “There are very few reasons for the average voter to bother to vote on Nov. 2, so we’re saying if there’s one good reason to vote, it’s this.”
Norman, acknowledging that his and Allis’ party politics rarely align, said the referendum question is not a “red or blue” vote.
“We feel strongly that even though we rarely agree on anything, this is an example of something that cuts across all issues in town,” Norman said. “This affects every referendum in the future.”
Allis said the right to a referendum is “at the core of our democratic freedoms.”
“This should be important to anyone, no matter whether they’re a Democrat, a Republican; you’re conservative or super progressive,” he said. “This is about the process. This isn’t about any one specific referendum.”
He said “the process” is what’s most important to him.
“It’s important to make sure the process of a referendum continues to be the fairest process possible,” Allis said.
Norman added that voters should recognize the ballot question does not address the change in the time frame for the referendum process, which Norman has argued is too short for the number of signatures required. Councilors have said, however, the 23-day window to gather signatures represents an increase for residents because the length of time the city clerk and lawyer have to review language has been shortened.
“What’s not on the ballot is almost as important as what is,” Norman said.
Siano said in a press release that the Fair Referendum Committee aims to educate voters about the importance of the referendum process to all voters.
“A fair referendum process is about our rights as voters to overrule a City Council or School Committee when they make a decision we think is not helpful for Greenfield,” she said. “We shouldn’t make it harder for the voice of voters to be heard when they are upset by a council vote.”
The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 2 election is Oct. 13.
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.