2013 Town Election - Wake Me When It's Done

This April's election will be one of the least inspiring I can recall. What is the record low turnout? Will this beat it? Part of the reason will be from the election fatigue we all feel from special elections in Massachusetts and our congressional district, but the biggest reason will be the lack of any real races to excite anyone.

I'm quite disappointed that there is only one contested town-wide race, the School Committee. (I strongly support Elyse and Laurie.) I have to wonder if we had not lost Dan Sharfman, would we have had no contests at all?

How about Town Meeting races? Move along, nothing to see here. Only two of our eight precincts have more than the full 12-candidate slate - and two have less than 12 candidates. What does this say about us as a town?

Recall a few years ago Town Meeting had the opportunity to reduce the size of Town Meeting (at the urging of the Government Structure Committee). The idea was to make Town Meeting more efficient, and it was a recognition that there has not been much competition over the past decade. But TM voted to leave things as they are. The argument of many was that we need broad representation and that larger numbers make for greater participation. I find that nonsense. A real representative should have to do some amount of homework to get elected. Unlike townwide candidates, TM incumbents merely have to return a form to be on the ballot. New candidates need 25 signatures of registered voters to get on the ballot. We (I'm on TM, precinct 6) could spend our time sequestered in our houses, not knowning the needs of our precincts or Belmont overall, and still be re-elected.

I am, however, pleased there are some newcomers to four of the nine townwide offices, even if they will walk on with no contest. Some fresh ideas and new energy are good to add to the mix of their respective boards. I want to thank candidates Leipzig, Houtmeyers, Chemelli, and Laverty for stepping up.

I do wish we had a "none of the above" option for townwide positions. This would at least get some people out to tally their opinions on our officials, especially the incumbents; think of it as a no-confidence vote. Voting for candidates says we're we are at least fairly happy that they are staying in their position. Right now, if I don't like the job somone has done in their position, I leave it blank as a show of displeasure. These show up as an "uncast vote" on the results from the Town Clerk. A recent uncontentested BOS election had the incumbent getting 60%, compared to 40% uncast; that says something. Next month, for our four uncontested races with incumbents, which will you cast and which will you leave blank?