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Community Corner

The Primary and the Referendum Require YOU

This Week's Votes are Critical for Our Future; Think Before Casting a Ballot

Tuesday is an important day for the state of Connecticut as we finally end the intra-party squabbling and select candidates for state and federal offices. From 6 a.m. until 8 p.m., the usual polling places will be open with separate spaces set aside for the Democrats and Republicans.

By late that night, we should know who will be running for senator, congressman, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of the state, comptroller and treasurer.

Without an incumbent governor, this is an unusual chance for Connecticut to pick a direction for the future. Our longtime senator, Chris Dodd, is stepping down and we will have a new advocate in Washington at a similarly-critical time as we make decisions for our country's future.

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Every week it says below this column that I am vice chairman of the Democratic Town Committee so you obviously know which way I am leaning. But that's not what I am here to talk about.

Instead, I want to urge everyone from both parties to come out and vote and have a say in picking the people who will take the first step in choosing our state's future. Turnout in August, and again in November, is vital, and recent history has certainly shown that every vote counts.

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On more than one occasion, we have heard members of the Republican majority on the Representative Town Meeting declare they were elected because the town wants this or that. But, according to statistics from the Registrar of Voters office, 27.75 percent of eligible voters voted in last November's election. That's 10,135 out of 36,517 residents, meaning that fewer than 10,000 residents voted to put the Republicans in charge.

Is that really a mandate? Since it's not a majority of the voters or even a plurality, and since the dictionary doesn't really put a number to the definition of a "mandate," those statements should not necessarily be taken at face value. With such low numbers, it is far harder to guess what the town really wants.

Broken down, about 5 percent more Republicans voted than Democrats and a pitiful percentage of unaffiliated voters voted. People can guess as to why people did or did not come out to vote, but the low turnout is distressing. Our ability to vote freely and unafraid is one of those great gifts we take for granted on an almost annual basis.

Look at it this way: Even though both parties held state conventions in May, the rules allowed candidates with enough votes to be eligible to run against the party-endorsed candidates in a primary. As a result, the people, not the insiders within either party, will have the final say. Don't agree with the endorsement? Vote for one of the other options.

Yes, I'm a Democrat but I always tell people to vote for the person they think can best do the job. What I dislike are people who avoid the candidates and their positions and then blindly vote the A row or B row. There has certainly been more than enough information presented by the candidates and the media so you can - and should - make an informed choice.

Thanks to the Web sites, blogs, tweets and Facebook pages added to the media mix, there are more ways than ever before to learn about candidates and the positions they take on issues that matter to you the most.

Read them all, but read them with a critical eye, cutting through the rhetoric to best understand which candidate offers you the best qualifications, ideas and vision for the job at hand. Just because someone held one office at the town, state or federal level does not mean they are qualified for a different job at a different level. Figure that out for yourself and vote accordingly.

Things have been getting desperate the last few weeks as the attack mail has been arriving with greater frequency than the policy mail. Ignore all the attacks made by both sides since invariably every kernel of truth contained within has been twisted beyond recognition. If you think a claim has merit, then do your homework.

Our right to vote is also our obligation to make an informed decision. All too often people vote for party affiliation or for a single issue without understanding what else the candidate might stand for. Just because they agree with you on your favorite issue (gun control, abortion rights, taxation, whatever) doesn't mean they match your worldview on everything else, and in the end, you may come to regret your choice.

Two days later, you're being asked to come out again, this time to vote at the same places in a referendum. At issue is $350,000 in bonding which would result in transforming town-owned property into a regulation girls' softball field with parking and amenities. Again, I urge you to read the facts and not the rhetoric.

You can see this as a referendum on supporting the girls' recreational options or as a vote on when and how the town funds projects. Either way, know the pros and cons and make another informed choice.

By being held on a separate day the same week, turnout between noon and 8 p.m. could be low which may skew the results. Whether we bond or not, the people who vote will have spoken.

Stay home the 10th and/or the 12th, and you miss out on an opportunity to make your voice heard.

Robert Greenberger, a former RTM member, is vice chairman of the Democratic Town Committee.

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