Town meeting is an assembly held once a year in which the adults of a community decide on local issues. In this meeting, the voters elect officials, listen to reports from committees and leaders, pass laws, and vote on the next year’s budget. A town meeting is considered one of the purest forms of democracy because the people of the town vote directly on community issues.
Town meetings started in the New England colonies, and many small New England towns still use them. Outside New England, the smallest unit of local government is a division of a county called a township. Rural township meetings resemble town meetings. The township voters meet to make basic decisions and elect officers to carry them out.
The term town meeting is also applied to other forms of political discussion. Some communities hold such meetings to gather interested people to discuss local issues or hear reports from their legislators. Politicians may hold in-person, televised, or electronic “town meetings” as part of their election campaigns and to learn what voters think about various issues.
