Nine Communities on the Ballot - 2020 CPA Campaign Coverage

2020 is shaping up to be another big year for CPA: on November 3rd, voters in three cities and six towns will be deciding whether or not to adopt the Community Preservation Act. With only a few weeks left to get the word out, local campaigns in several of these communities have put together impressive adoption efforts to educate voters on the benefits of CPA.

Shrewsbury CampaignThe Community Preservation Shrewsbury campaign has actually had their website up and running for most of the year, and thanks to this early momentum, the group has gathered a range of endorsements for CPA adoption. Local committees in town, several regional nonprofits, as well as dozens of individual residents have all signed on to publicly support the CPA campaign. Their website also hosts an extensive Q&A section, breaking down the specifics of the Shrewsbury CPA ballot question and CPA project examples from neighboring communities.

Framingham SignAfter their city council approved of the CPA question over the summer, local advocates kicked off the Framingham Community Preservation Now campaign. One of the highlights for this campaign site is their “Potential Projects” section—advocates have already identified several areas throughout the city that could benefit from CPA funding in each of the four project categories. This approach allows voters to visualize in their own neighborhood the kinds of projects that could be accomplished with CPA. And in order to spread the word as much as possible, the advocates in Framingham even included a QR code on their “Vote Yes” signs, which takes users directly to the campaign website.

Milton CampaignThe town of Milton attempted to adopt CPA once back in 2012—and while it did not pass at the ballot, advocates are working hard to ensure that their second attempt succeeds. An energized group of residents have formed the Yes on 3 For Milton campaign, sporting a website with bright graphics and a clean presentation. The highlight of the Milton campaign site is their calculator—this allows residents to determine their CPA exemption status, or what their household’s annual surcharge would look like. CPA can be a complicated program to understand, and providing this information goes a long way towards demonstrating exactly why it works so well.

Franklin CampaignCPA for Franklin has only just launched their website, but they have provided plenty of opportunities for voters to get engaged. Their blog-style campaign site regularly puts out new posts with information about the CPA program and the local campaign efforts, as well as providing a sign-up form to get involved, downloadable handouts, and the opportunity to submit questions that will be posted in their FAQ section.

Lee CampaignEach of these campaigns has a presence on social media accounts, but the town of Lee is utilizing Facebook specifically as their online headquarters. Lee was the final community to get CPA on their local ballot this year, and only after they pulled off the incredible task of gathering signatures from 5% of their registered voters on a ballot petition—the only community to do so since 2016. Their local campaign goes by the name of Dynamic Lee, and has been using both Facebook and Instagram to continue their CPA outreach.

Lancaster Campaign SignAdvocates in Lancaster had to contend with an unusual hurdle for their adoption campaign - ballots sent out to voters this year mistakenly omitted their exemption for the first $100,000 of residential property in the ballot question description. Thankfully, the campaign organizers in Lancaster quickly caught the mistake and notified their town clerk, as well as the Secretary of State's office. Nearly 2000 residents that received these misprinted ballots received an additional mailing from the state explaining the error and provided directions for requesting a new ballot. The Lancaster campaign also had the opportunity to directly reach out to voters and clarify the CPA question through a series of public forums held online during the month of October.

In addition, the city of Greenfield and the towns of Hopedale & Whitman will also be voting on CPA this November. Taken all together, it’s truly remarkable that during such a tumultuous year, nine communities still recognized the potential benefits of the Community Preservation Act and decided to make adoption a priority. The Coalition will continue to cover these campaigns as we get closer to Election Day.