LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION 17 



town meeting- is sustained as an outstanding example of a democratic 

 institution. Although many modifications are made as a result of 

 new problems, the town meeting continues to be a means of debating 

 and settling by majority vote many of the problems of community 

 business. 



The call for the meeting is contained in the town warrant, which 

 is prepared by the board of selectmen. The warrant must be posted 

 at the place of meeting and at one other public place in the town at 

 least fourteen days before the day of the meeting. In addition to 

 prescribing the time and place of meeting, the warrant provides an 

 agenda. The business transacted at the town meeting is limited to 

 the subject matter of the series of articles contained in the warrant. 

 However, the selectmen are required to include in the warrant any 

 article requested by application of ten or more voters, or one-si.xth 

 of the voters in the town, providing such request is made prior to the 

 time of posting. The choice of town officers and appropriation of 

 inoney to meet town charges appear in all town warrants. Other 

 articles are peculiar to the wants of the individual town. Some of 

 the other articles commonly found are concerned with such items 

 as special appropriations, granting selectmen authority to borrow in 

 anticipation of taxes, approving bond issues, and granting selectmen 

 authority to close roads or to sell property acquired by tax deed. 



The presiding officer at the town meeting is the moderator, and 

 the recording officer is the town clerk. During all elections by ballot, 

 the moderator receives all ballots and the town clerk checks each 

 voter's name on the check list. The check list which presumably con- 

 tains the names of all legal voters is used at all local, state, and na- 

 tional elections when balloting. 



Concerning suffrage, the public laws provide "every inhabitant 

 of each town, being a native or naturalized citizen of the United 

 States, of the age of twenty-one years and upward, excepting paupers 

 and persons excused from paying taxes at their own request, shall 

 have a right, at any meeting, to vote in the town in which he dwells 

 and has his home."^^ Residence is established by having lived 

 within the town for at least six months next preceding- the day of 

 meeting, but one is not deprived of the privilege of voting in the lo- 

 cality within the state from which he moved during these six months 

 if he declares his intention with the clerk prior to his removal. 



The constitution grants suffrage for state elections to "every 

 male inhabitant of each town, and parish with town privileges, and 

 places unincorporated in this state, of twenty-one years of age and 

 upwards, excepting paupers,^'* and persons excused from paying 

 taxes at their own request. . . ."^^ An amendment to omit the 

 "male" qualification and to provide that women might hold office was 

 adopted by the tenth constitutional convention in 1918, but was not 

 ratified by two-thirds majority vote when submitted to the people 



13 Revised Laws, 1941, Chapter 31, Section 1. 



1* "County paupers are those for whose support no person or town in this state is chargeable.' 

 Revised Laws, 1941, Chapter 125, Section 1. 



1° New Hampshire Constitution, Form of Government, Article 28. 



