An informal poll for the forum members...

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

Bumping it up... Keep these conversations alive...

[Dick Brown]

My two cents, for what it's worth.
Back in the day, voting on items in an Australian Budget form was looked upon by School Board members, Selectmen and this school administrator as a greater opportunity for negative residents to vote no without hearing all the facts. I think we might have missed the point, or did not give enough credence to the feeling among our townspeople, about their not having an opportunity to vote or attend the meeting due to other obligations, including making a living.
When we finally did change to a Saturday Meeting, mainly for discussion purposes, both of the Selectmen and School Board members endorsed the plan and felt it would lead to more participation by the residents. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be as successful as we might have hoped twenty years ago, but it still seems worthy to me, as long as the votes take place later ( on Town Meeting Day, I would presume ). Having a chance to explain items or answer questions by engaging in discussions with the final decision-makers was usually lengthy, sometimes contentious but always worth it.
On the whole, most of us who were involved in implementing budgets or mandates welcomed both the process and fortunately, got the results we hoped for. The one time we were turned down on the School Budget vote, Raymond McNall, Ralph's father, made an impassioned speech to the audience before that meeting ended, which resulted in the administrators taking a closer look into how we were presenting our request and reaching our goals. If we had simply had a yes or no vote by Australian Ballot, who knows how long it would have been before we got a positive approval from the voters .
What you have in Fairfax, with it's Saturday meeting and Tuesday voting, is an excellent model for the democratic process .  And to the late Doug Webb , an acknowledgement that he was right, as usual, way back then.

[Dick Brown]

Henry       I was brousing through comments made on The Forum today, and noticed that I had left out the word "not " which should have preceded the word " successful " in my narrative.  A senior moment I fear.     66* out tonight with rain coming in...still
an upgrade from what we had la few days ago !! Hope you & Maryann have a good week.

[Henry]

Hi Dick,

I went in and added the word.  If you ever find that you do have something you want to correct, you should be able to click on the post and click modify on any of the post you did and make any changes then click on save.  If I did not edit it the way you wanted, just go up and click on it, then modify and save it the correct way.

[mirjo]

I also think more people should go to Town Meeting.

Some people have to work.

I don't think anything should be voted on at town meeting, I think it should all be done by ballot, but especially anything involving money, regardless of how large or small.

[Robin F]

I have to agree with those who say that it is really an issue of priority for many people. While there are some who have legitimate reasons why they cannot make it (work commitments are an issue and I think that child care is an issue for some, although it is likely also an excuse for many people), for most people I think it is just a function of the fact that they are not interested enough in attending to make it a priority.

I am not originally from Vermont, and where I grew up there is no such thing as "Town Meeting." But, I have gone to Town Meeting every year I have lived in Vermont because I think it is a great tradition and the best way (short of actually attending every Board meeting) to become informed about the items we are actually voting on. When I get home, I relay the information to my wife, who is watching our kids during the meeting, so she can get as much of the information as she can (she usually also gives me some questions she wants answered before I go to the meeting). Perhaps there should be a ceiling on the amount of expenditure that can be authorized from the floor, but for the most part I think that if the items we vote on at the Meeting were truly important to that many people, more would come to the meeting itself instead of complaining afterward.

[roadkill]

I like things the way they are however there are pros and cons to everything. On one hand you can never replace the great sense of Democracy that Vermont has to offer regarding Town Government and local controll but on the other are you truly getting the majority of the voice of the people by voting on certain Articles at Town meeting.

First and foremost is the Town Report. Is it accurate? Does it include everything a registered voter needs to know before making a decision? In this years case I say no. There is no line item budget for the Rec Department and Article 7 has already caused much controversy. Have the registered voters of Fairfax been properly warned and informed to make these deciosions at the polling booth without going to Town meeting? No.  You can never get rid of Town meeting, this is the oppurtunity for the people to become informed voters.

On the other hand, What if all of the 2,948 registered voters showed up for Town meeting. ( Dave Shea, I got that number from the Town clerk 2 weeks ago) Dean Potter (The fire chief) would shut the meeting down because BFA does not have a room large enough to accomadate that many people.

On the other hand, How many do we have. A veteran or servicemember stationed overseas in Iraq or Afghanistan or elsewhere can ONLY vote by absentee ballot and CANNOT vote on any of the Articles presented to be voted on at Town Meeting. A servicemember in Fletcher cannot vote on anything in that town by absentee ballot because everything is done at Town meeting. Is that fair? Is that Democracy?

Julie, it is an interesting question. The balance between Democracy and the growing population of a Town. The key is to find the right balance. The school does a great job with their public input sessions regarding the budget prior to Town meeting thus giving everyone the oppurtunity to be part of the process. I like that.

I dont always attend Town meeting but do so when I feel I am uninformed or misinformed. I ALWAYS vote. 622 people voted by australlian ballot last year which is about 21 % of the registered voters. (got that number from the Town clerk too Dave).

[Henry]

Back before 1958, I was working 5 1/2 days a week and in order to attend Town Meeting I would have had to take the day off without pay.  During some of the years I was making $45 and $50 a week.  Not a big salary and I was single, but I needed every penny to make it.  I did not get vacation and if I was sick and couldn't go in to work, I did not get paid.

I am wondering how many people in this day and age, still would have to take the day off without pay to go to vote.  Also, if they have to hire a babysitter, that can be expensive.  I happen to have been one of those people criticized for not attending Town Meeting between 1954 & 1958 for not attending.  I did so one year and got up and suggested we vote by Austrailian Ballot and was quickly put in my place by some Old Time Fairfax Residents - I never went back to Town Meeting until 1959, when I was working for IBM and they gave me time off with pay to go to Town Meeting.  I too pretty much agree with the Town Meeting discussion part, but am an advocate for voting by Austrailian Ballot on money issues.

[Chris Santee]

It is my understanding Article 7 will be decided on Saturday.

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

If we truly do have 2948 registered voters this year, and truly only had 622 of our citizens vote last year (~21%), then what explains the apathy of the other 79% of Fairfax's population? I guess I am understanding some responses to not attending Town Meeting on Saturday due to work, childcare, etc. Personally, I feel that these people are going into the voting booths a bit less informed than the population who does attend Saturday's meeting and listen to the presentations, but that is their personal choice.
The bigger problem is the polls are open for 12 hours on Tuesdays for voting and we only have 1/5 of our residents caring enough to give input. Why don't people exercise their right to vote? We've fought long and hard in this country to be able to have this privilege, and yet, people don't take advantage of it.

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

And, heck, speaking of apathy for that matter, only 38 members of this forum of 278 have bothered to give their input into this informal poll.... (that's only 13% by the way)

[cestreet]

Julie,

On top of what you said, the few members that have responded are obviously NOT representative of the overall population, as evidenced by the high rate of affirmative responses about voting and attendance at TMD.  My opinion is that we are our own worst enemies in this great Democracy, to which we (collectively) do not show nearly enough respect or appreciation.

Clarice Streets

[David Shea]

I am glad that I brought to light the lack of attendance at town meeting.  It is ok with me that my figures for registered voters was incorrect.  1700 vs 2900, I was off by 1200 registered voters, but my point still is valid.

5% of our registered voters decided to how to spend over 250,000.00

21% showed up to vote at the voting booth.

21% is greater than 5% the figures prove that more people are able to show up at the voting booth vs town meeting.  Many valid point have been made here.  I just like Henry have voiced my opinion at town meeting, only to be met with ridicule. Last year I took my 6 year old son to town meeting and a woman who was sitting next to me made rude comments to me about how he was having trouble sitting still.  This woman also made faces at my son.  Consequently we left.

My intentions are not to target any one request for funds.  My intent is to have a larger sample of the population vote on spending.  It is clear ballot voting does this.

I have noticed that many folks on the forum like to shield themselves behind pen names.  I decided from the the start that I would not do this.  I encourage you all to lift the mask and stand tall and proud with your names for all of us to see.

[mirjo]

As I have stated in other places on the forum: although the power is in the people; the people do not realize this and therefore consider voting a waste of time. If everyone of voting age actually voted (I'm sure that is more than 2900 people in FFx?), it's likely politics wouldn't be in the sorry state it's in and has been in for about 40 years.

[Julie & 6pt Dave]

The totals are in. I guess I'll see half of you tomorrow.