How to Put an Article on Your Town Meeting Warrant

Any registered voter can ask the voters of their town or school district to decide a question. Write it as a warrant article, collect the signatures of 25 registered voters, or 2 percent of them if that is fewer (never fewer than 10), and hand the petition to the selectmen or the school board before the deadline. They must put it on the warrant for the annual meeting, where the voters decide it.

1. Check that this is the route for your town

   This guide is for a town that holds a town meeting and for a school district. In a town, petition the selectmen; for the school district meeting, the school board. A city, or a town whose charter replaced its meeting with a town council, is governed by an elected council instead, and its charter sets its own rules; Cities, Towns and Who Runs Them explains the difference.

   Find out whether your town or school district holds a traditional meeting, where the voters debate and vote on each article in the same room, or uses the official ballot form called SB 2, where the articles are debated at a deliberative session and voted on later at the polls. The deadline depends on it, so ask your town clerk or the selectmen’s office which your town uses and the date of its meeting.

   Find your town or city clerk

   The law: RSA 39:1, RSA 40:13

2. Write the article

   A warrant article states the subject the voters are asked to act on. The law requires the intent and effect of each article to be stated clearly and without commentary or ambiguity, and nothing done at a meeting is valid unless its subject is stated in the warrant. Write one question, as you want it to appear, for example “To see if the town will vote to…”.

   The selectmen or the school board may make only minor changes to the wording, and never ones that change what the article was meant to do. An article that would abolish a planning board or zoning commission must also meet the petition rule in RSA 673:18, II.

   The law: RSA 39:2, RSA 39:3, RSA 39:3-c

3. Collect the signatures

   The petition must be signed by 25 or more registered voters of the town or school district, or 2 percent of its registered voters if that is fewer, and never fewer than 10. For a town, the 2 percent is counted from the voters registered before the last state general election.

   You may name one signer as the primary petitioner. If you do not, the first registered voter listed is the primary petitioner.

   The law: RSA 39:3, RSA 197:6

4. Hand it in before the deadline

   Give the petition to the selectmen, or any one of them, for the town meeting, or to the school board, or any one member, for the school district meeting. Keep a copy.

   When a petitioned article is due

   Meeting	Traditional meeting	SB 2 (official ballot)
   Town	By the fifth Tuesday before the annual meeting	By the second Tuesday in January, for a meeting in March
   School district	At least 30 days before the meeting, or by the second Tuesday in March if that is earlier	By the second Tuesday in January, for a meeting in March

   An SB 2 town or district that holds its meeting in April or May has the same deadline a month or two later: the second Tuesday in February or in March. If the article proposes a bond, the SB 2 deadline is the Friday before.

   The law: RSA 39:3, RSA 197:6, RSA 40:13, II-a

5. What happens next

   The selectmen or the school board must put the article in the warrant. In a town, selectmen who refuse are guilty of a violation, and if they unreasonably refuse, a Superior Court justice can order the article inserted on the written application of 25 or more voters. The warrant is posted at least 14 days before the meeting.

   At a traditional meeting the voters debate the article and can amend it before they vote; where it asks for a sum of money, the meeting may vote more or less, within the limits of the municipal budget law where the town has adopted it. In an SB 2 town or district it is debated at the first session, the deliberative session, where it can be amended but not changed to remove its subject, and every article then goes on the official ballot for the final vote.

   The law: RSA 39:3-b, RSA 39:9, RSA 39:5, RSA 197:7, RSA 40:13, IV

Start with your town clerk or the selectmen’s office, for the date of the meeting and whether it uses SB 2. For the school district meeting, ask the school board. The Secretary of State lists every town’s clerk.

Find your town or city clerk

Chapter 39: Time for Holding Town Meetings and Warning Thereof

Laws that changed it since 2020, newest first:

• HB 1309 Became Law
• HB 1369 Became Law
• HB 228-LOCAL Became Law

Chapter 40: Government of Town Meeting

Laws that changed it since 2020, newest first:

• HB 1113 Became Law
• HB 1575 Became Law
• HB 228-LOCAL Became Law

Chapter 197: School Meetings and Officers

Laws that changed it since 2020, newest first:

• HB 1807-FN Became Law
• HB 228-LOCAL Became Law
• HB 595-FN 2023-2024 Became Law
• HB 71 2021-2022 Became Law
• HB 545 2021-2022 Became Law

• Town meeting and local government
• Cities, towns and who runs them
• How to vote

• Time for Holding Town Meetings and Warning Thereof, RSA 39Granite Record
• Government of Town Meeting, RSA 40Granite Record
• School Meetings and Officers, RSA 197Granite Record
• Town and city clerks (Secretary of State)app.sos.nh.gov