© 2026 All Rights reserved WUSF
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Our daily newsletter, delivered first thing weekdays, keeps you connected to your community with news, culture, national NPR headlines, and more.

Town Meeting

For the past 350 years, the people of New England have held town meetings as a forum to thrash out local issues and vote on them. Some consider these meetings the oldest and purest form of democracy in the United States. But Leda Hartman reports that in New Hampshire, this venerable institution may come to an end if the state legislature passes a law that allows local issues to be resolved by secret ballot.

Copyright 1995 NPR

Thanks to you, WUSF is here — delivering fact-based news and stories that reflect our community.⁠ Your support powers everything we do.