News
Sports
“It shall be the duty of every elector to vote at each election,” this is section 245(1) of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 of the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia is one of more than 30 countries in the world that has compulsory voting — meaning you don’t have the option of voting, you must vote or have a substantial reason why you couldn’t or wouldn’t cast your ballot. Without a good reason for not voting you will face a penalty. This seems to work well for Australia but would it work here in the United States? Is this something that we should implement here? I would say no to both questions but I do wonder what we have to do to get improved turnout for municipal elections.
I bring this up because we are heading into another election cycle here in Windsor, with four town board seats and the mayor’s position being contested along with several ballot measures that the citizens will be asked to consider. After the votes are counted and results are in do we really have the true answers of what the population wanted? Without full participation of the citizens, is the government that was chosen legitimate? I have spent the last few days walking the town and speaking with numerous citizens about different topics and the thing that shocks me are the number of people that openly admit that they don’t care what goes on in town, don’t care what decisions are made in their name and don’t want to participate in the election process.
For those of you reading this article, I challenge you to contact your friends, neighbors and family members and urge them to participate in the upcoming election. There will be articles in the newspapers about issues and candidates, campaign fliers, signs and question and answer sessions, there will be no shortage of available information. We have made voting very convenient by allowing a mail in ballot. We have made voting very convenient by allowing that ballot to be cast during a several weeks long period. We all need to participate so that it is the duty of every elector to vote at each election.
For information on the election and important dates, go to www.windsorgov.com.
@WNW OPINION Column tag:Matthew O’Neill represents district 3 and is the mayor pro-tem.
I bring this up because we are heading into another election cycle here in Windsor, with four town board seats and the mayor’s position being contested along with several ballot measures that the citizens will be asked to consider. After the votes are counted and results are in do we really have the true answers of what the population wanted? Without full participation of the citizens, is the government that was chosen legitimate? I have spent the last few days walking the town and speaking with numerous citizens about different topics and the thing that shocks me are the number of people that openly admit that they don’t care what goes on in town, don’t care what decisions are made in their name and don’t want to participate in the election process.
For those of you reading this article, I challenge you to contact your friends, neighbors and family members and urge them to participate in the upcoming election. There will be articles in the newspapers about issues and candidates, campaign fliers, signs and question and answer sessions, there will be no shortage of available information. We have made voting very convenient by allowing a mail in ballot. We have made voting very convenient by allowing that ballot to be cast during a several weeks long period. We all need to participate so that it is the duty of every elector to vote at each election.
For information on the election and important dates, go to www.windsorgov.com.
@WNW OPINION Column tag:Matthew O’Neill represents district 3 and is the mayor pro-tem.
