You asked whether the other New England states and New York allow property owners who are not registered voters to vote on municipal ballot questions in a town where they own property.

None of the other New England states people anyone other than registered voters to vote on municipal ballot questions, referendums, or town meeting questions even if they are property owners. Neither does New York.

In Maine, the law sets the following qualifications for voting in any election in a municipality: U. S. citizenship, at least 18 years of age, residency in the municipality, the requirement that the person be registered to vote there. However, a Superior Court judge ruled that the voter qualification requirements for municipal elections do not apply to village elections to approve a village budget, since the law confines its application to municipalities. Under the decision, a village charter governs the requirements for its voters, which in this case permits individuals who own property in the village to vote at the annual meeting regardless of whether they are residents of the town (Rackliffe et al. v. Northport Village Corporation et al. , 711 A. 2d 1282 (1998)).

Interestingly, until 1998, New Yorkers had to be both registered voters and property owners to be entitled to vote on "any proposition for raising, appropriating or expending money or incurring any town liability, or for

the sale or other disposition of town land or property. " The legislature deleted the property ownership requirement (L. 1998, c. 281) so now the law allows only registered voters to cast such ballots (N. Y. Town Law § 84).

MJ: ro