MARIAN A. O. COHEN

MARIAN A. O. COHEN

Name: Marian A.O. Cohen
Office Sought: Town Meeting Member Precinct 2
e-mail address: mcohen0917 [at] gmail.commichaelschanbacherlexpb [at] gmail.com (
)phone number: 781-640-8242

Community Activities: 

  • School-related (selected activities):
    • PTA President
    • Chair, School Councils at Bowman, Clarke, Lexington High School
    • Chair, Social Studies Citizens Advisory Committee
    • Co-Chair, Cultural Diversity Program
    • Principal Investigator
    • Surveys of teacher and student attitudes toward block learning at LHS
    • Survey of student stress
    • Survey of teacher perceptions of student stress
    • Consultant
    • Professional development committee
    • Committee on standards and curriculum
    • Advisor evaluation process
    • Time and learning committee
    • Academic stress committee
    • Sleep needs of teenagers and stress
    • Legislative liaison to MPTSA
  • Council on Aging (selected activities)
    • Chair
    • Principal Investigator, surveys of program participants and program providers
    • Principal Investigator, needs assessment of senior residents
    • Principal Investigator, program evaluations
    • Creator, Intergenerational program
  • Vision for Lexington (formerly 20/20 Committee)
    • Member since 2003
    • Principal Investigator, Town-wide surveys in 2012, 2017, 2020
    • Membership on Task Forces
    • Forging Constructive Community Discourse (Chair)
    • Demographic Characteristics and Changes
    • Civic Participation by Asian American Residents
    • Social Diversity
    • Enhancing Communication in Lexington
    • Improving Voter Participation
    • Planning Committee for Futures Panel
    • Planning Committee for Lexington Remembers
    • Co-chair, Planning and Design Committee for Lexington Citizens’ Academy
  • Other:
    • Principal Investigator, Town-wide Mental Health Survey
    • Consultant to Public Information Officer on the Town-wide Communication Survey
    • Principal Investigator (and consultant to Town Manager), Study of Employees’ Attitudes About Work
    • Member, Lexington Human Rights Committee Task Force on Race and Health
    • Participant in Mock Town Meetings with Clarke Middle School Students
    • Board member, Lexington Historical Society
    • Town Meeting member since 1994

Article 43 on the 2024 Town Warrant is asking if the Town will authorize and request the Select Board to petition the General Court of the Commonwealth for Home Rule Legislation to allow any citizens in the Town of Lexington, who have reached the age of 16 or older, to register and vote in municipal elections within the Town, or to take any action in relative thereto. Would you support this article? Why or why not?

I support this article. As a member of the subcommittee of Vision for Lexington studying local elections, I have learned about our low voter turnout and studied ways to increase it. In the literature on this topic, many factors have been identified as related to low turnout in local elections, and many suggestions have been made on ways to increase turnout. One suggestion is to extend voting rights to 16- and 17-year-olds in local elections. Those who are still in high school tend to be interested in local issues, many of which directly affect them. Research has found that reaching young people and educating them about local issues and the value and importance of voting improves their social commitment and sense of belonging to the wider society. Those who receive such education in high school develop a stronger culture of civic engagement and have higher voter turnout rates in their 30s. Involving people at younger ages has been shown to predict participation in community activities as well as participation in future elections. Further, there is evidence that 18-year-olds do not necessarily vote upon initial eligibility, in part because they are ‘busy’ adjusting to new social roles and responsibilities and do not consider voting a priority. By contrast, younger students have fewer adjustment distractions as well as more possibility for support and encouragement for voting from peers, teachers, and parents, and are more likely to vote.