Our voting system is not working!

Why are we making it so difficult for more people to vote?

Asking voters to come out at night results in many people not being able to vote. Many seniors don’t like driving at night. Families with children have to find sitters or chose for only one to attend the meeting and vote. 

Why aren’t the votes held on Saturdays, and thereby give voters a whole day to vote? 

Asking people to vote by holding up their colored card results in some people feeling intimidated by others around them, who have strongly stated a position against that which they want to vote. 

Why isn’t the voting done by secret ballot? This was done recently when the Pirie property vote was held.

Asking people to stand when they vote results in a lot of confusion, especially when there are many people standing at the back of the room in which the vote is taken. It is much easier for the tellers to see all those holding up their cards when they are seated.

Asking people to sit through long presentations using slides that often are difficult to see and read results in frustration with voters, who already have decided on how they will vote. If we can vote for canidates without presentations, why can’t we vote on issues without presentations? There are many presentations to which voters are invited before the voting meeting is held. Some voters, as evidenced at the last Hamilton Special Town Meeting, grew tired on long discussions and left before the vote was taken. 

Isn’t it important to get high voter turnout? 

How can the spending of large sums of money be authorized by a very small percentage of voters? 

Should we feel good when only a little over 300 Hamilton voters turned out to vote on spending over $2,500,000 for a new pool? 

Why are we making it so difficult to vote?