Quick Hits are random stories about our cities and town that catch the eye of our contributors
In my search for unique tidbits about Massachusetts municipalities, I decided to compare demographics, beginning with population. It was easy to say that Boston has the largest population, but which town has the smallest? Gosnold, MA, is the smallest town by population in the Commonwealth, with 70 residents in 2021.1
Next, I went to the town’s official website to learn more.
“The Town of Gosnold, the smallest of the 351 towns in Massachusetts, is made up of the Elizabeth Islands; Nonamesset, Uncatena, Weepecket, Gull, Naushon, Pasque, Nashawena, Penikese and Cuttyhunk. Town government is located on Cuttyhunk and there are about 115 registered voters.”2
*record scratch*
Wait…how can a town with only 70 residents have 115 registered voters? I double-checked the number with the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Voter Registration Statistics and confirmed it to be 110 registered voters as of February 24, 2024. This is still higher than the number of residents.4
Some municipalities allow non-residents to vote in local elections, where issues affecting property owners are more immediate. That scenario may be reflected in the above number. Next, I looked at the election results to see how many votes were cast in Gosnold in the 2020 Presidential Election.[3]
And the number of registered voters for the 2020 Presidential Election:[4]
Now that the numbers were verified, I needed to find an explanation for how this could be the case. On its face, the numbers look suspicious, but they are out there for the world to see, so there must be a reason why it’s accepted. What do we modern internet sleuths do to find quick answers? Ask AI, of course!
Using Perplexity.ai, I asked the following question:
Why does the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts, have more registered voters than residents?
“Gosnold, Massachusetts has more registered voters than residents because many non-resident property owners are eligible to register to vote in the town.[3][4]
While the 2020 census reported only 70 residents in Gosnold, the town’s voter registration data from October 2022 shows 112 registered voters.[1] This discrepancy is likely due to non-resident property owners, such as summer residents or those who own vacation homes on the Elizabeth Islands that make up Gosnold, being allowed to register to vote in the town despite not being full-time residents.[2]
The small year-round population of Gosnold, combined with the town’s desirable vacation properties, results in a situation where the number of registered voters exceeds the number of actual residents. This is a unique situation for Gosnold due to its status as the smallest town in Massachusetts with a highly seasonal population.[1][2][4][5]
Follow-up question:
What Massachusetts law allows non-resident property owners to be registered voters?
“There is no Massachusetts state law that explicitly allows non-resident property owners to be registered voters. The state’s voter eligibility requirements focus on citizenship and residency, not property ownership.
To be eligible to vote in Massachusetts, you must be:
A United States citizen
At least 18 years old
Not currently incarcerated for a felony conviction
A resident of Massachusetts (there is no minimum residency period)
The search results do not mention any Massachusetts law that grants voting rights to non-resident property owners. The situation in Gosnold, where many non-resident property owners are registered voters despite not living there full-time, appears to be an anomaly enabled by the town’s unique circumstances rather than state law.
So while Massachusetts law does not explicitly allow non-resident property owners to vote, Gosnold seems to have some local allowances that enable this situation to occur. But this is not the case in other Massachusetts towns and cities, where voter eligibility is based on citizenship and residency as defined by state law, not property ownership.”
Next, I checked with ChatGPT, just to see if there were any differences. The results were initially surprising, until I drilled down to the actual answer. See the screenshots of my “interaction” below:
When using AI, it’s important to be specific if you want facts.
I emailed the Gosnold, MA, town clerk to ask about any local rules, provisions, laws, or bylaws that allow for non-resident voter registration. As of this posting, I have not received a reply. I will update this article if I do receive an answer.
I learned another interesting fact about Gosnold, MA, which I will detail in another article. Why focus on such a little town? Maybe I like poking around randomly to see what I find!
by JLK
Sources
[1] https://dlsgateway.dor.state.ma.us/reports/rdPage.aspx?rdReport=CommunityPage&rdLinkDataLayers=CommunityPage&rdRequestForwarding=Form
[2] https://www.townofgosnold.org/about
[3] https://electionstats.state.ma.us/elections/view/140751/filter_by_county:Dukes
[4] https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/elections/research-and-statistics/registration-statistics.htm
[5] Citations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gosnold,_Massachusetts
[2] https://www.dukescounty.org/town-gosnold
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