Revising charter is a step backward

To the Editor;
Aren’t town charters developed to be a kind of rule book to which town administrations and town residents can agree to adhere? Shouldn’t one be able to assume revisions of that charter would be undertaken in the interest of these residents and in an effort to achieve maximum transparency by the town’s government?

Well, the currently proposed (revised) Dover-Foxcroft Municipal Charter appears to do just the opposite. It proposes to eliminate the voter’s ability to vote each of the articles by secret ballot at the June municipal election. Adoption of this revised charter effectively prevents the voter from even knowing the content of each article much less allowing thoughtful consideration of town departmental budgetary needs in the privacy of the voting booth and by casting a ballot free of censure and personal attack.

When the town first accepted the secret ballot citizens were given the opportunity to review and vote on some 25 or more budgetary articles. Over the years the number of articles appearing on the ballot has been cut to the point of actually reducing your ability to know how your tax dollars were being used and/or for what purpose. The proposed charter revision now will take away everything, leaving you with only a final, single figure on which to cast your “secret” vote.

The proposed charter revision takes a step backward to the time when residents had to attend the Town Meeting and cast their vote in public by a show of hands for each budgetary article. The Charter Commission would like you to believe their deliberations have led to a “streamlining” of the voting process, but with a minimum of creative thinking and a maximum desire to do so, they could have honored the wishes of the more than a thousand voters who wanted to vote by secret ballot years ago. To accept the proposed charter revision will set
the town on a backward course away from the freedom of expression secured by voting with the secret ballot in the privacy of the voting booth.

Some of us remember well the 2004 Town Meeting with the town police officers in full uniform, voter anger on display and the voices of reasoned objections silenced. Even one of the selectmen, days later, was publicly admonished by letter to this newspaper for daring to demonstrate her lack of support at the Town Meeting for the then proposed warrant articles. The secret ballot has eliminated that contentiousness, brought many more voters to the privacy of the voting booth and helped develop an increased interest in town affairs. The strident voices of a few could no longer drown out the wishes of those, the many, who desired greater administrative accountability and transparency.

If the proposed Charter revisions are adopted we will lose our secret ballot privilege and with that loss so too our right to, in private, record our wishes about how our money extracted by taxation is spent by the town. Just as important is the loss of your power and freedom. That’s what this revised charter will do. Don’t lose what you’ve gained, exercised and eníoyed over the se last 10 years. It’s essential that you preserve your right to vote on all the budget-related articles — not in public, but in private.

Make your secret ballot vote count this June so you can always make your in-private vote count. Go to the polls in June and preserve your future. Vote “No” to the proposed charter!

Don Benjamin
Dover-Foxcroft