Town meetings have been in full swing
since late last week here in New Hampshire. Many take place this
week, this coming weekend, and next week.
It is American democracy writ small.
My little town had its town elections
today, where our townspeople elected some town officials, voted on
the the town and school budgets, and approved or disapproved various
warrant articles that dealt with everything from buying a new fire
truck to funding some non-governmental agencies to changing how the
town sets up default budgets to imposing a property tax cap.
This election has probably garnered
more voter attention than some I've seen in the past. I had to wait
in line for a voting booth to open up, as did a number of other
townsfolk. When I voted (just after work) over 1400 ballots had
already been cast and there was still a couple of hours left until
the polls closed. The parking lot outside our middle school, the
town's polling place, was rapidly filling up as I left after voting.
It will be interesting to see which
warrant articles passed and those that didn't.
One last thing -
As the saying goes here, “If you
didn't vote at town meeting, then you have no right to complain about
how things turned out.”
Just sayin'....