TPRTA is one of several non-profit organizations, community groups, and campaign entities that encouraged eligible residents of Truro to register to vote – and then to actually vote. Together, between these many efforts, 195 persons registered to vote in Truro after the May 2023 election and through Special Town Meeting on November 28th. (Accounting for the 66 voter challenge decisions, 161 new voters remained on the voter roll.) Adding 161 voters in Truro is a great outcome and we are proud of our part in this effort!
During the most recent registration cycle, several non-profits including Community Development Partnership (CDP) and Highland Affordable Housing (HAH) used robotexts, phone calls, and/or direct mail to motivate the public to register and to vote. Informal community groups also engaged in voter registration and get out the vote (GOTV) efforts via text and calls. One did so under the under the banner of “Advocates for Attainable Housing,” apparently supported by a state official’s campaign office. A Truro community action group – Take Back Truro, started in June 2023 by two Truro full-timers – joined the push to encourage citizen engagement through its own GOTV campaign.
TPRTA, however, stood apart from these other players in that it did not conduct GOTV efforts and never promoted positions on the contentious issues debated in Truro, as our constituents hold diverse views on these matters. In August 2023, TPRTA reached out to its MA-based members, informing them about how to register to vote if eligible and interested in doing so. In this way, taxpayers could better declare their own preferences by properly exercising their right to vote.
TPRTA was privileged to provide educational assistance to challenged voters through expert webinars about the challenge process, their voting rights, and options to address the challenges (if they chose). While the challenges were both unnecessary and unwarranted, the addition of 161 new voters is great news for democracy and citizen engagement in Truro.
TPRTA’s role in voter registration efforts is consistent with its mission and its longstanding history of conducting voter registration efforts in the past. As the State Election Commission noted, as early as 2001 TPRTA encouraged this activity and has continued to do so from time to time in the remarkable tradition of non-profit advocacy for voter empowerment.
Of those who registered to vote, TPRTA seems to have encouraged about 24% of new voters to register, representing about 5% of member households. This is also consistent with the continuous rate of taxpayers’ transition from part-time to fuller-time status and may have facilitated a more rapid transition among the 60-78 year age cohort who intend to retire in Truro. We congratulate those who motivated the other 76% of new voter registrations.
TPRTA has received widespread thanks from members and other Truro citizens for encouragement, accurate information, and connections to proper ways to register and get official MA information on voter registration, as well as for our efforts to help challenged voters understand and navigate the “challenge” process as each saw best for themselves. TPRTA has been especially praised for its efforts to promote and protect voting rights for all citizens of Truro as well as for our continuous support of local charities and programs.
TPRTA will continue its efforts to promote citizen engagement. The organization is proud to contribute to the long-standing, lawful process of non-profit support for voter registration and voting rights.