Low voter turnout underscores need for Nov. elections

Dear Editor:

Canton’s municipal elections took place last week. Turnout was 2.3 percent. It doesn’t have to be this way.

At the 2014 Canton annual town meeting voters approved an article to move our municipal elections to November. Unfortunately, for reasons going back to colonial times, Canton needs state approval for such a change. Approval is granted through a legal mechanism known as a “home rule petition,” so this means our representative, Bill Galvin, needed to get involved. He did, and filed House bill 3234. Unfortunately, Representative Galvin has publicly stated he opposes moving the elections. The lack of effort on his part has effectively doomed chances that Canton will be allowed to move elections to November.

With the exception of Selectman Victor Del Vecchio, the entire political establishment in Canton opposed moving our elections to November. They were quite vocal at town meeting, getting up in line behind the microphone for their chance to speak against the article. The Finance Committee voted unanimously against the article, usually the kiss of death on any article. It went on for almost two hours and the vote wasn’t taken until almost midnight. Despite all the mistruths freely spouted by the opponents, the article passed. The voters were able to filter the total nonsense.

So now, Representative Galvin needs to set aside his fear that voter turnout will increase dramatically if elections are moved to November, and do his job as Canton’s representative on Beacon Hill.

Sincerely,

Bruce Rohr

Share This Post

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=33074