Upper Valley Vibes S1 E3: Raymond Voter Information Project on informed town meetings and civic engagement

JAM Podcasts & Audiobooks

In this episode, I invited some VIPs from outside the Upper Valley up to Junction Arts Media's (Formerly CATV) podcast recording studio in White River Junction. (Which by the way, JAM is a partner on this podcast and that podcast recording studio can be used by anyone! There are some links in the show notes with more info if you're interested in that.)

Anyway, if you live in Raymond New Hampshire you have an easier time getting informed about what's happening at Town Meeting than people do in many towns. Why? This is because of the dedicated work of a dozen or so volunteers who constitute the Raymond Voter Information Project who are my guests this episode.

These community members and volunteers have been compiling a detailed voter guide for 15 years that gets mailed to every household in Raymond prior to Town Meeting. They compile information, perform editorial reviews to ensure the information is as neutral and objective as possible, and even include things like further research and reasons why someone might vote yes and reasons why someone might vote no, and a voter guide you can fill out and take with you on election day.

It's really interesting to have this much work being done by an independent, nonpartisan organization of individuals who are working to educate and inform their neighbors. Raymond VIP's annual voter guide has become a relied upon resource in town, especially as local media and papers have dropped off over the last two decades. I invited them up here to share a bit about what they do, how they got started, how this relates to local newspapers, lessons they have learned over the years, and maybe some inspiration and ideas for anyone out there who wants to see their community more informed and engaged at Town meeting.

We all met last year after they heard about the Town Meeting handbook I created with a dozen other town managers and officials in New Hampshire, they reached out, and we all really hit it off, as we all believe that helping ensure a well attended and representative town meeting is one of the most important things we can do in our communities. So I'll stop there and get right to the conversation with Susan, Dana and Deb. Enjoy!

• Raymond VIP online: https://www.raymondvip.org/
• Reach out to Susan, Dana or Debra with any questions or ideas if you're interested in starting this in your town: https://www.raymondvip.org/contact.html
• The NH Town Meeting handbook with a bunch of best practices from NH and VT officials that I created this past year: https://rethinklocal.us/resources-town-meeting-turnout-and-engagement/
• NHPR's coverage of our Town Meeting Handbook https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2024-03-11/call-to-order-this-nh-town-manager-created-a-practical-guide-to-town-meeting
• Related Town Meeting type links:
  • Susan Clark's book Slow Democracy: http://slowdemocracy.org/
  • Register to vote in Vermont: https://sos.vermont.gov/elections/voters/registration/
  • Register to vote in New Hampshire: https://www.sos.nh.gov/elections/register-vote
• More information about JAM and their podcast studio which is open to the community: uvjam.org/listen