This page was exported from The Auroran [ http://www.newspapers-online.com/auroran ] Export date:Fri Mar 29 9:15:18 2024 / +0000 GMT ___________________________________________________ Title: INSIDE AURORA: Post-Election Burning Questions --------------------------------------------------- By Scott Johnston Many thanks to all of the candidates, volunteers and others who participated in the recent municipal election. After ten months of activity, I think we're all breathing a small sigh of relief that it's over, but there are still a few outstanding questions here in Aurora, such as: With such features as personal attacks, sign vandalism, and hate-type literature, why was this campaign so unusually negative, and did that influence how people voted? Did the machine into which the returning officer placed your completed ballot not look like disturbingly like a shredder? Why do they choose polling stations with such limited parking? Although the ward option was defeated this time, is there a chance it will come back as a question in the 2018 election? And assuming the proposed reduction in Councillors from eight to six goes through, is anyone on Council willing to suggest in 2018 that residents be asked whether the number should be further reduced from six to four? How large a percentage decrease will we see in letters to the editor now that people don't have the election and its participants to comment on? And what will be the next big Town-related issue on everyone's minds? How many unsuccessful candidates considering a run in the next election will actively participate in and contribute to Town activities, initiatives and committees over the next few years, and not wait until 2018 to start doing so? With voter turnout at only around 35 per cent, just how many candidates, what sort of issues, or how long an election period is required to encourage a greater number of Aurorans to turn up at the polls? With more people running every year, is there a point at which there are too many candidates for the average voter to logically assimilate everyone's platform? With more and more municipalities offering this, when are we going to see Aurora enter the 21st century and adopt electronic voting? Will there be this much interest in Town about our next election; the Federal one in 2015? If every year each candidate seems to note at some point how important it is that they go door-to-door to meet people, why is it that no one showed up at our door over the past few months, and over the past eight municipal elections, we've only ever had one candidate drop by our house? With Town Hall's Council Chamber bursting at the seams with attendees every time there's a debate or other pre-election event, why don't they hold these at a larger venue? Between signs, fliers, voters lists, ballots and related election materials, just how much paper was used (and recycled) during the recent campaign? And shouldn't this volume of paper be going down each election with the increasing prevalence of social media and related forms of electronic communication? For current Councillors who were not elected this time for whatever reason, do they get to keep the name signs that identify their place at the Council table, or does the Town store them away to save money in case these people run again and are elected in future? Who will be the last candidate to take down their election signs? And has the Town ever had to fine candidates who were delinquent in taking down their signs in a timely manner? With Provincial and Federal election periods typically being around 5 weeks, isn't it time to reduce the 10 month long municipal election period? If not, here's something to look forward to; it's only about 37 months until the start of the next municipal election campaign. Feel free to e-mail Scott at: machellscorners@gmail.com --------------------------------------------------- Images: --------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Post date: 2014-11-05 12:48:47 Post date GMT: 2014-11-05 17:48:47 Post modified date: 2014-11-19 16:19:30 Post modified date GMT: 2014-11-19 21:19:30 ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Export of Post and Page as text file has been powered by [ Universal Post Manager ] plugin from www.gconverters.com