WEST BRATTLEBORO-As the Brattleboro Charter Revision Committee presents its proposed charter to the Selectboard, one principle should be non-negotiable: Every registered voter deserves an equal voice in decisions that affect the entire town.
I am a serious senior with some limiting medical issues. I have been actively involved with town issues for several years, including serving as a Representative Town Meeting member.
The possibility of me attending a day-long format of open Town Meeting (OTM) is slim. There is also no way for me to attend that important meeting remotely to address issues of the proposed budget and have my vote count.
Does that mean that all the work and effort to make our town something I want to pass on to my children is now not to be heard?
The only choice left to me is to have a lesser vote and be forced into a supermajority (60%) secret townwide ballot to disapprove of what a minority number of OTM participants approved during a meeting limited to in-person participants.
This means that with approximately 290 to 300 voters (attendance to the first OTM last April), it would only take 146 to 150 (50% plus 1) to decide and pass a budget.
Past history shows approximately 20% of the 10,000 registered voters (2,000) would choose to participate in a secret ballot vote on that budget. It will take 1,200 votes (60% plus 1) to change the OTM vote. 1,200 votes to overrule 150 deciding votes. Fair? Just? Democratic?
A town's budget belongs to the entire town - not just to the people who have 12 hours to sit in a room.
Kill the 60% supermajority
All votes are of equal value!
Neil Manders
West Brattleboro
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