Summary:
Data collection from town meetings includes attendance, participation rates, issues under consideration, participation by gender and more. Dr. Bryan developed a “democractic index” which is a combination of participation and attendance. When the articles on the warning are just the routine elections and budget items, people stay home, but when an issue that people care about (renovation on the town hall, or the purchase of a piece of property) come up, more people will show up to the town meeting, increasing their score.
In 2018 we collected data from 35 towns (see summary below).
For more details and longitudinal data comparing 2018 to previous years, click on the town links below.
Real Democracy Scores:
Using this data and the formula from Dr. Bryan’s work, we calculated the “Real Democracy” score for each town. This score combines attendance and participation rates to mark how democratic the meeting was. Dr. Bryan showed in his book Real Democracy that there are many factors that contribute to this score including the size of the town, whether the meeting was held in the morning or evening, and the gender ratio of participants. But by far the largest contributing factor is the issues that are up for discussion. When the articles on the warning are just the routine elections and budget items, people stay home, but when an issue that people care about (renovation on the town hall, or the purchase of a piece of property) come up, more people will show up to the town meeting, increasing their Real Democracy score.
Town Quick Links:
Belvidere | Bridgewater | Clarendon | Elmore | Greensboro | Jericho | Panton | Proctor | Richmond
Data Overview:
| Town | Peak Attendance | Attendance Rate* | Participation Rate | Real Democracy Score** | 2010 Population |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belvidere | 39 | 16.67% | 71.79% | 88.46 | 348 |
| Benson | 69 | 9.27% | 31.88% | 41.16 | 1056 |
| Bolton | 82 | 8.17% | 37.8% | 45.97 | 1182 |
| Bridgewater | 97 | 14.00% | 10.31% | 24.31 | 936 |
| Bristol | 103 | 3.64% | 51.46% | 55.1 | 3894 |
| Charlotte | 100 | 3.01% | 45.00% | 48.01 | 3754 |
| Clarendon | 54 | 2.86% | 38.89% | 41.75 | 2571 |
| Danville | 198 | 11.56% | 12.63% | 24.18 | 2196 |
| Eden | 82 | 9.48% | 29.27% | 38.75 | 1323 |
| Elmore | 86 | 12.29% | 39.53% | 51.82 | 855 |
| Fairfield | 103 | 7.77% | 25.24% | 33.01 | 1891 |
| Fayston | 81 | 6.80% | 48.15% | 54.95 | 1353 |
| Greensboro | 149 | 25.17% | 20.13% | 45.3 | 762 |
| Hartland | 165 | 6.28% | 29.70% | 35.98 | 3393 |
| Hinesburg | 159 | 4.02% | 18.24% | 22.26 | 4396 |
| Hubbardton | 36 | 6.69% | 50.00% | 56.69 | 706 |
| Huntington | 150 | 9.45% | 40.67% | 50.12 | 1938 |
| Jay | 63 | 17.90% | 15.87% | 33.77 | 521 |
| Jericho | 200 | 4.83% | 23.50% | 28.33 | 5009 |
| Lincoln | 112 | 10.72% | 39.23% | 50 | 1271 |
| Ludlow | 69 | 4.32% | 37.68% | 42 | 1963 |
| Mendon | 40 | 4.52% | 37.68% | 72.02 | 1028 |
| Middlesex | 176 | 10.90% | 26.70% | 37.61 | 1731 |
| Panton | 41 | 8.63% | 53.66% | 62.29 | 677 |
| Pittsfield | 52 | 13.87% | 50.00% | 63.87 | 546 |
| Proctor | 63 | 5.32% | 15.87% | 21.19 | 1741 |
| Richmond | 182 | 5.87% | 24.18% | 30.04 | 4081 |
| Sheldon | 80 | 5.29% | 21.25% | 26.54 | 2190 |
| Starksboro | 125 | 9.20% | 30.40% | 39.6 | 1777 |
| Townsend | 117 | 16.86% | 32.48% | 49.34 | 1232 |
| Underhill | 136 | 5.35% | 36.76% | 42.11 | 3016 |
| Warren | 175 | 11.75% | 24.00% | 35.75 | 1705 |
| Westford | 73 | 4.51% | 28.77% | 33.28% | 2029 |
| Weston | 85 | 16.93% | 37.65% | 54.58 | 566 |
| Wolcott | 105 | 9.39% | 22.86% | 32.25 | 1676 |
*Attendance Rates are calculated using the number of registered voters (2016 data from the Secretary of State website) and peak attendance numbers.
**Read Democracy scores are based on attendance and participation.