INSIDE AURORA: Burning Questions

September 10, 2014 · 0 Comments

Burning Questions about the Municipal Election
By Scott Johnston

With the municipal election only six weeks away, there are any number of burning questions associated with it, such as:
With it possible to vote for up to eight different councillor candidates, why don’t we ever see lawns with eight different election signs on them?
With key election issues this year again being accountability, taxes and development, is it time to admit that our candidates have run out of original ideas?
If Aurora has an at large system to allow multiple councillors, why don’t we have an at large system to allow multiple mayors?
With over 20 candidates expected to be in the running, a typical debate would allow about 4 minutes for each person. Since this isn’t enough time for considered discussion and rebuttal by each candidate, why are debates held?
If adopting a ward system and reducing the number of councillors are such good ideas, why are such unrealistically high voter turnouts required before Council will adopt them?
And if the required 50 per cent of voters don’t turn out, but the majority of those who do demonstrate a desire for either of these changes, will Council even contemplate them, or will its members just mop their collective brows and consider themselves off the hook for another four years?
As you read the spelling and grammatical mistakes in their election literature, do you wonder if candidates ever proof their own material?
Does the presence of candidates openly campaigning at activities such as Ribfest and the Farmer’s Market improve or detract from the experience at these events?
Is it more cost-effective to pay for storage space for campaign signs for four years between elections, or to procure all new signs each time?
When will the option of electronic voting ever be introduced for municipal elections?
What’s the minimum number of votes separating the eighth and ninth place candidates that would justify the cost of a recount?

Until now, has anyone apart from the candidates really been thinking about the election since the nomination period opened over eight (yes, eight) months ago?
When people consider a ward system for Aurora, is the often suggested number of four wards based on an intelligent review of appropriate geography and representation, or just because to accommodate our current councillors, we’d need a number of wards that divides nicely into eight?
An old U.S. election slogan promised a chicken in every pot, so was this slogan ever used by local candidates back in the days when Aurora was known as the Chicken Capital of Canada?
Since they can’t cover every neighbourhood, how do candidates decide in which parts of Town to conduct door-to-door canvassing?
Have you ever voted in a previous municipal election, chosen some candidates for councillor whom you thought would do a good job, then just randomly chosen a few more, just to use up all of your eight votes?
Are candidates that wait till the last minute to declare themselves demonstrating confidence or indecision?
With Halloween only a few days following the election, can we expect that some yard signs may get decorated to celebrate the season?
How is it that on election night, they are able to predict winners and losers with such accuracy after only a small fraction of polls have reported in?
With eight councillor positions, what would the Town do if less than that number of nominees came forward?
Why don’t more people take advantage of the convenience of advance polling?
How much grace time must the new Council be given before their actions, or lack thereof, allow residents to justifiably start complaining about them?
Just asking.

Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com