Question 4 is on the May 19 ballot because 34 Yarmouth residents signed a petition. Yarmouth has roughly 22,000 registered voters. That's 0.15%.
34 signatures is the bare statutory minimum to place a non-binding question on the local ballot. It is the easiest threshold in Massachusetts election law. The petition mechanism exists for a reason — small groups should be able to surface issues to a wider electorate. But the petition is a starting point for debate, not a substitute for one.
What 34 signatures cannot do
- Bind Yarmouth to anything — this is a non-binding resolution by design.
- Change YPD policy — that's a Police Department policy decision under Lunn.
- Expand or restrict constitutional rights — those are set by the 14th Amendment and Article 106, not Town Meeting.
- Insulate Yarmouth from federal funding consequences — that's a federal executive branch decision the Town has no control over.
What 34 signatures can do
- Force 22,000 voters to render a public verdict on the question's framing.
- Create a public record of Yarmouth's position that federal agencies can use as evidence.
- Trigger the Concord scenario: a non-binding resolution becoming the basis for federal sanctuary designation.
Vote local
The mailer says "Now more than ever, vote local!" Voting NO on Question 4 is voting local. It says Yarmouth's 22,000 voters — not 34 petitioners — decide what posture this town takes on a question with national funding consequences. It says that posture should be one that protects Yarmouth's ability to run its library, pave its roads, fund its police, and stand up to coastal storm damage without inviting a federal funding fight that produces no local benefit.
The petition asks the wrong town to make a national statement. The right answer is NO.