Apathy and other excuses
There are a number of things that stand out for us in the results of the past weekend's voting in York: the defeat of the town hall proposal; the clout of the Budget Committee's preference vote; the election of Kinley Gregg over incumbent Len Dorrian. In the normal course of post-election coverage we would take time to address all of these things.
But this was not a normal election. In case you missed it - and apparently most people did - we had a voter turnout of barely 2,500 voters as compared to over 10,000 registered votes in total. In other words, only 25 percent of voters in York cared enough to get out of their beds, or off their couches, or away from whatever, to go out and vote. And the results which followed from this turnout need to be qualified as such.
There are any number of reasons (read: excuses) that can be brought up as to why this turnout occurred, but they all boil down to the same thing: apathy and its lurking cousin, self-centered laziness.
When compared against the sacrifices made, indeed against those still being made, so that we can continue to enjoy the right to have a vote at all, the disrespect we show shames us. At least it ought to, assuming we even think about it.
Our system expects us, requires of us, that we will be engaged. It is not so much to ask. In case further perspective is needed, we encourage you to read Lynn Osgood's accompanying letter to the editor, which puts this matter squarely where it belongs.
