This obscure board game sure seems to hold out the promise of nonstop, pulse-pounding action, does it not? Description found online:

You roll dice and move your pawn along a path through the town. There are incidents in your path concerning the town meeting as you progress to the town common. …The incidents are believable and reflects what could actually happen before or during an actual town meeting. First player to reach the town common wins!

And you wonder why “New England Town Meeting Game” has never rivaled Scrabble or Jenga or Hungry Hungry Hippos in the pantheon. Well, it might be more exciting if the players all had to deal with some kind of disability… because in real life our beloved, much-mythologized Town Meeting seems to have a problem when it comes to accommodating disabilities.

So says a new advocacy group, REV UP Vermont, not to be confused with Renewable Energy Vermont. REV with an UP launched on Town Meeting Day* in an effort to focus attention on the plight of people with disabilities who want to take part in local governance.

*to very little notice; did anyone in our media report on the group? Bueller?

REV UP’s broader purpose is to remove obstacles, physical and otherwise, to participation in elections of all sorts. But its starting point is Town Meeting Day, which seems to be a particular trouble spot despite all our high-falutin rhetoric about this wellspring of democracy and embodiment of Vermont exceptionalism.

REV UP cites data from the Secretary of State’s office that shows more than two-thirds of Vermont’s town meetings conducted at least one floor vote this year, which means that those who couldn’t attend in person couldn’t take part in the vote. This includes, REV UP says, “many disabled residents and others who face barriers to attending in person such as working people, caregivers, incarcerated or unhoused residents, people without transportation, and those with safety concerns.”

When you add up all those categories, you wind up with quite a lot of people. Seems a bit contradictory to the fundamental conceit of Town Meeting — that everyone in the community can have a voice in local governance.

This is not a universal problem; REV UP notes that many communities have taken steps to allow fuller participation. But we do seem to be behind the curve when it comes to equity of access. A study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ranked Vermont third-from-the-bottom in disability access to elections.

Our local media seem to have given this story a pass, but Mother Jones recently published a piece about accessibility problems with Town Meetings in Vermont and other New England states. It quotes Alexia Kemerling of the American Association of People with Disabilities:

There is really a lack of enforcement, and in some of these states, they have conflicting laws that really put historic treasured tradition above access. It’s a really heartbreaking example of who gets left behind in systems that are not built for everyone.

So, REV UP is seeking to pass a law ensuring that everyone can vote. It’s called S.298, and it would create a Vermont Voting Rights Act including protections for those with disabilities. It was introduced in late January, and attracted a robust 18 co-sponsors. (Every Democrat except Windham County’s Wendy Harrison is on board, plus two Republicans: Randy Brock and Richard Westman.)

With that much support, surely S.298 is enjoying brisk progress toward becoming law, right?

Well, no.

It was assigned to the Senate Government Operations Committee, which has… done… nothing. S.298 is stuck on the wall, with the crossover deadline almost upon us. I don’t know if this is because the chair of Senate Gov Ops is Republican non-sponsor Brian Collamore, although if leadership was really behind the bill, something would be happening.

S.298 is likely to fall victim to the crossover deadline — although, as I always say, if leadership wants to do something they will find a way — which would mean the effort to enact a Voting Rights Act would have to start from scratch next year.

That’s be a shame. This should be a source of embarrassment for our B.L.S. And enhancing access ought to be a high priority if we truly believe in our own professed ideals. We should be leading the way, not dragging our heels.