When a NH Supreme Court Judge decided in Grant vs. Barrington that voters could amend warrant articles from their original intent down to the mere words “To see…” his ruling provided that stripping these citizen-petitioned articles of any and all meaning was quite acceptable. Usually it is money items that voters seek to amend.
In an ironic twist, the voters of Hampstead invoked this ruling to amend 4 out of 5 items down to the words “To see…” – once during the School’s Deliberative Session and 4 times during the Town’s Deliberative session.
According to one Hampstead resident, the move was upheld four times when it was used to neutralize some “ridiculous, ill-advised petitioned articles”.
“In general”, he continued, “these were the best Deliberative Sessions Hampstead has ever had since adopting SB 2 in 1996. They were reasonably well attended, the voters had good arguments and questions, but best of all, voters were respectful of each other and polite, in spite of the vigorous and spirited discussions on some articles.”
He further contended, “I guess it takes time to understand the mechanics of this form of government”.
Indeed! CNHT wishes even more citizens would take part in the process.