Reflections on an Election
Yesterday was Election Day in Holliston and for the fourth time I was re-elected. I won with 79.97% of the votes cast. Most politicos would be thrilled with that result. I never spent a penny on this election got “overwhelming" support. However I am very saddened by this result.
Also yesterday the memorial signs went up around town honoring the war dead. Many say they died fighting for democracy. If that is the case, the results of the town election and recent town meeting, make those signs even sadder.
These numbers tell a very sad story. We all know about the fiscal distress on the federal, state and local levels. These results raise serious questions about participatory democracy in our town. There are 9,766 eligible voters in this town of about 14,000. This is a respectable number of voters. However the vast majority, cannot find the time to even show up to vote.
At the town meeting on May 4 where the annual budget is set, only 208 people saw fit to show up. That is 2.13% of the voters! On the docket that night were serious issues that affect every citizen of the town. Still only 208 people thought it was important enough to miss the ball game or some other activity. Many departments are taking cuts and their budgets were crafted in a painstaking manner to assure that fee increases and job losses were kept to least possible. The cuts were designed keep reductions in service and the pain involved to employees to a minimum. I am grateful that 208 people recognized how important this is. They exercised their “right to know” and their right to be heard. That is the basis of our democracy.
Yesterday 286 people made it to the polls. Granted this was not an exciting election. There was only one contested race; however two boards had a total of three open positions (two for Park Commissioner, one on the Planning Board). This astounds me! No one bothered to even run for these positions. The rest of us ran unopposed. This town rises and falls on the shoulders of volunteers who help to run it. None of us are that special, just people that care deeply about where we live and want to make it better. I find it very hard to believe that we are the only ones who care this much.
Of these 286 votes cast I got 223 or 79.97%. Here is an interesting fact to think about. This election cost the town about $10,000 to run or $ 34.97 per voter. Looking it this from a strictly financial standpoint, it cost the town $ 7,797.20 to have me sit as an unpaid financial watchdog for the next three years. I hope to prove that I am worth that investment.
Many people are afraid of service cuts, tax hikes and fee increases. Some are downright angry about it. Each has their points, some more educated than others but all are valid and should be heard. However only 2.9% allocated the five minutes they needed, to express their opinions at the ballot box. This is tragic. If you don’t vote you have no right to complain; it’s that simple.
Last November, 79% of the town’s voters jammed the voting booths to join in the national election. We were justifiably proud of ourselves for exercising this most American of rights. Six months later no one seems to care enough to help us make our own town work during a fiscal crisis.
At the FinCom meetings, we spend untold hours trying figure out ways to save money on non-mandated costs. Our two town meetings per year and a town election where participation is so paltry could be judged a waste of money on the basis of participation only. There appears to be little interest and a large expense. If it were any other activity we would have stopped funding it.
I am not advocating for that, but it does make me wonder what the people of this town really want. There has to be a reason why apathy has run amuck in our community. We need more, not less people to participate in our exchange of ideas. We need to escape from this abysmal result and start participating in participatory democracy. We need to move from this “sublime to the absurd” commitment to show our friends and neighbors that we really care about our community. We need YOUR involvement.
Take a little time and get involved with a board that you have an interest in. Run for an open slot. Come to the fall town meeting and see just what it takes to make things work. Contribute your ideas, passion and expertise. At the very least , pencil in on your Blackberry, Outlook or iPhone the town elections on May 18, 2010. There 286 people in Holliston that have earned the right to be heard. The rest of you need to schedule five minutes next May to raise your voice.
I attended the town meeting and I've got to say it was hard to come away from the experience feeling encouraged to engage further. We saw a petition effort to found a commission charged with advocating for business growth resisted and ultimately dismissed because such an effort might be somehow dangerously redundant. We saw the work of the Recall Bylaw Committee rejected because Town Counsel advised we couldn't include any language to define cause -and everyone else felt cause wasn't clearly enough defined. Just about every question put before the meeting received a thumbs up or down assessment from FinCom or the Selectman with the sense that any and all issues had already been resolved -elsewhere. I'm not advocating or even excusing apathy. But it is worth understanding it. There might be more involvement if ordinary citizens saw more of the process on display, if we received minority reports from some of the committees, if we heard differing views and had some sense of what's actually been weighed in making the de facto decisions. For a great many town politics is pretty opaque. Lives don't allow for constant attending FinCom or Selectman or Planning Board meetings and there's no clear sense of when substantive business is at hand. I'm not suggesting that we drag the working agenda of every town committee onto the floor at Town Meeting, but I think we should figure out how to make for more windows into the different activities of town government. Town Meeting should be one such window. Raise the shades and a few more people might knock on the door.
Tom Driscoll | 2009-05-23 13:12:09
No matter what every vote counts whether it is at an election or, especially important, at Town Meeting. I go to work every day and on election day I make it a point to leave earlier in order to stop and vote on my way to work. I also make sure that I keep open the nights of Town Meeting. I feel that as an American citizen, it is a right and privilege that we have that other countries don't. Town Meeting is the forum where every citizen of the town has the right to be heard. The one catch is that you have to be there!
Janet | 2009-05-22 08:05:52
Most people I talked to didn't even know there was an election! Considering that 79% of the town voted in November, this clearly factored into low voter turnout.
kam | 2009-05-22 07:19:32
The polls are open from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm. There have been times when I couldn't make it due to other obligations (including being due to have a baby on election day)and I've either gotten an absentee ballot or voted at the Town Clerk's office before the election. There is absolutely no such thing as an unimportant election. Every single election, even one with no contested races, is an afformation of our freedom and the fact that we live in a Democracy. Not to be overly dramatic, but people have died so that we can vote. I don't take that right lightly.
Michelle Zeamer | 2009-05-21 18:28:18
While this may be the politically incorrect answer, the fact is there was very little of any interest/importance on the ballot - mostly uncontested races. A bigger turnout would have had no effect on the outcome. People will come out to vote when it matters to them.
Lou | 2009-05-21 12:56:02
Quite frankly the old I have to work and don't have time to get to the high school excuse has played itself out! No one is suggesting you be there 24/7. It is one or two times a year. I work hard, raise a family, and volunteer, yet I always make time to attend town meeting and to get to the voting booth. I for one love the previlege of voting and share that pride with my family. My personal take on this apathy by the citizens is this; "Let someone else take care of it. If it truly affects my pocketbook then maybe I'll get up and do something, but in the meantime someone else can worry about the heavy lifting." Second to being a father and husband, serving on town boards and volunteering is one of the most rewarding experiences I have. Sometimes it is challenging and time consuming, but it is also thought provoking, educational,and fun. Most importantly you meet the most amazing people that usually enrich your life in ways you never imagined. Serving and helping others is a great job and they are always hiring!
donald gray | 2009-05-21 12:09:29
The problem is most people in Massachusetts (specifically Holliston) have to work pretty hard these days and don't have the time to get to the high school. Many are lucky to have jobs! Let's face it, with the technology available today the system in place is very antiquated - not to mention the unnecessary waste of energy to drive to the polling places (not green!). How about mailing the voting forms to people and requiring them to endorce the it, much like the census? As gas prices rise it only makes "cents"!
Green Resident | 2009-05-21 06:41:54