Cut the preliminary - and the cost - before making the cut on candidates.Byline: George Barnes There have been several notable people named George Barnes. They include:
COLUMN: Barnestorming The Fitchburg preliminary election Sept. 22 was, to put it bluntly, a huge waste of time and money. It wasn't just that a minuscule minuscule Lowercase letters in calligraphy, in contrast to majuscule, or uppercase letters. Unlike majuscules, minuscules are not fully contained between two real or hypothetical lines; their stems can go above or below the line. number of voters cast ballots. That says something troubling about the citizens of Fitchburg who were too tired, too busy, too self-involved or too neglectful ne·glect·ful adj. Characterized by neglect; heedless: neglectful of their responsibilities. See Synonyms at negligent. ne·glect to vote. But it also says something about how much voters even care about the system of preliminary elections. Only 7.39 percent of the city's 20,519 voters went to the polls. Preliminaries are held to prune prune, popular name for a dried plum. Fruits of the many varieties of Prunus domestica, which are firm-fleshed and dry easily without removal of the stone, are gathered after falling from the tree, dipped in lye solution to prevent fermentation, dried in the down the number of candidates so that voters in a general election do not have to waste their time reading the names of a huge list of candidates. In this case, voters were saved the bother of reading one more name for councilor-at-large. Now there are 10 candidates, and achieving that number only cost the city an estimated $30,000. Preliminaries are required if there are more than twice as many candidates running for an office as there are seats available to fill. In this case, there are five councilors-at-large, and double would have been 10 candidates instead of the 11 that ran. Even in good times, wasting that kind of money is unacceptable. Voters are capable of sifting through 11 candidates to make an informed decision in November. But that is what the city charter requires. And Fitchburg is not alone. Many communities have requirements for burdening their town or city clerks In the United States, a City Clerk is an elected or appointed official who is responsible as the official keeper of the municipal records. In some places, the Clerk may be known as the "Village Clerk" or "Town Clerk". with holding unnecessary preliminary elections. No one wants a clutter of 100 or so people running for an office, making the election so confusing con·fuse v. con·fused, con·fus·ing, con·fus·es v.tr. 1. a. To cause to be unable to think with clarity or act with intelligence or understanding; throw off. b. that people can't see the quality for the clutter. There needs to be a limit on the number of candidates, and forcing them to an exam to weed weed, common term for any wild plant, particularly an undesired plant, growing in cultivated ground, where it competes with crop plants for soil nutrients and water. out the crazies from the potential community leaders is probably unconstitutional unconstitutional adj. referring to a statute, governmental conduct, court decision or private contract (such as a covenant which purports to limit transfer of real property only to Caucasians) which violate one or more provisions of the U. S. Constitution. . No one wants a police officer or teacher to be laid off just to eliminate one person from the ballot, either. There needs to be some common sense. The problem of preliminaries was the main topic of conversation before votes were announced in the City Council chambers the night of the preliminary. There was plenty of agreement that the system is dysfunctional dys·func·tion also dis·func·tion n. Abnormal or impaired functioning, especially of a bodily system or social group. dys·func and should be changed. But changing it is not easy. It would be a charter change, and that requires collecting signatures to elect a charter commission, having the commission review the charter and make recommendations and finally a vote on the recommendations. But the first thing needed is an idea of what should be done differently. That may seem simple, but should the city really open the floodgates and let anyone who can collect enough signatures be on the ballot for the general election? That may be the best choice. It is so difficult to get people to run for office that the likelihood of a tidal wave tidal wave, term properly applied to the crest of a tide as it moves around the earth. The wavelike upstream rush of water caused by the incoming tide in some locations is known as a tidal bore. of candidates coming forward and finding enough people to sign their nomination papers is highly unlikely. If chucking the whole system seems radical, set a higher limit. Even if the limit was three or four times the number of candidates running for each office, it would be enough to eliminate most preliminary elections but still maintain an uncluttered ballot. A charter change will take a while and a bit of work, but to keep shelling out $30,000 every couple of years is just not sensible. Contact George Barnes at gbarnes@telegram.com. |
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