Belvidere
Belvidere is a town in Lamoille County, Vermont that boasts a population of 348 people. Based on data collected by an inter-collegial team of students, here are our findings regarding its Town Meeting process.
2018 Town Meeting
Summary of Findings
In Belvidere the meeting mostly covered the usual financial and electoral issues. The issue that took up the most time was whether or not the town should install a light fixture at the town gravel pit. Since Belvidere is such a small community, people were more likely to participate at the meeting as they mostly knew each other. As well, more women attended and participated than men (attendance: 54%, participation 57%). These factors have led to Belvidere achieving the highest “Real Democracy Score” both overall in the long term data for the 1980 meeting in Dr. Bryan’s database, in the data we collected in 2018. They also had the highest participation rate of the 35 towns we collected data on this year (71.79%, just barely below the 72.1% in the 1980 town meeting).
Major Data Points
| Year | Peak Attendance | Attendance Rate* | Participation Rate | Real Democracy Score** | Population | Meeting Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 39 | 16.67% | 71.79% | 88.46 | 348 | 2:23 |
| 2010 | 45 | 23.44% | 55.56% | 88.91 | 192 | 3:36 |
| 2006 | 36 | 17.31% | 58.33% | 99.26 | 208 | 1:51 |
| 2003 | 40 | 22.10% | 82.50% | 96.64 | 181 | 4:08 |
| 2002 | 75 | 41.90% | 33.33% | 78.00 | 179 | 3:41 |
| 2000 | 64 | 36.99% | 45.31% | 109.85 | 173 | 6:02 |
| 1999 | 38 | 21.97% | 73.68% | 99.47 | 173 | 5:07 |
| 1998 | 55 | 32.54% | 56.36% | 89.39 | 169 | 3:54 |
| 1995 | 42 | 25.45% | 73.81% | 103.82 | 165 | 2:28 |
| 1994 | 39 | 24.84% | 71.79% | 111.33 | 157 | 3:46 |
| 1991 | 55 | 36.18% | 41.82% | 97.78 | 152 | 5:55 |
| 1990 | 47 | 31.13% | 78.72% | 115.07 | 151 | 4:07 |
| 1987 | 35 | 25.18% | 74.29% | 113.71 | 139 | 6:05 |
| 1986 | 30 | 22.73% | 66.67% | 121.94 | 132 | 3:27 |
| 1984 | 33 | 22.00% | 81.82% | 127.74 | 150 | 3:02 |
| 1983 | 50 | 33.33% | 78.00% | 88.91 | 150 | 3:17 |
| 1982 | 35 | 23.49% | 74.29% | 99.26 | 149 | 4:15 |
| 1981 | 64 | 44.76% | 70.31% | 96.64 | 96.64 | 4:10 |
| 1980 | 61 | 44.85% | 68.85% | 78.00 | 136 | 3:15 |
| 1978 | 45 | 37.50% | 84.44% | 109.85 | 120 | 4:48 |
| 1974 | 40 | 37.74% | 90.00% | 99.47 | 106 | 5:55 |
*Attendance Rates are calculated using the number of registered voters and peak attendance numbers.
**Real Democracy scores are calculated using attendance and participation numbers. For more infomation on them see the Data Overview Page
Student Involvement
Students help gather data and produce videos on town meeting. Lunch and mileage is paid for.