Preserve your freedom

To the Editor;
Some years aqo Dover-Foxcroft residents voted for the annual town budget by a show of hands in open town meeting. In 2004 a couple of hundred strident and angry voices approved all the Warrant Articles and the town deepened the divide between two factions — those for whom there never was enough spending and those desiring to retain their meager resources.

At that same meeting the deliberations were completed under the watchful eyes of the local constabulary who appeared in full uniform, complete with firearms. That kind of intimidation was ended when several hundred voters approved a petition to vote by secret ballot in the privacy of the voting booth.

Since then the list of Warrant Articles appearing on the ballot has been reduced; the actual figures compressed so as to effectively obscure the true allocation and proposed expenditures of tax-acquired funds. And now, with the scheduled 10-year review of the Town Charter, the Charter Review Commission has all but eliminated the secret ballot. If the charter revision is approved, voters appearing at the Annual Municipal Election in June will only be able to vote one article bv secret ballot — a “bottom line” budget total. Voting for various budget elements will be totally eliminated and only a total figure, “up” or “down” vote for the entire budget will appear.

Voting for a single total budget figure eliminates transparency, reduces administrative accountability for expenditures and effectively renders voters helpless to acceptance or rejection of the proposed allocation and expenditure of tax-acquired funds.

Returning the town to an antiquated system of voting for all budget-related Warrant Articles at “open town meeting,” as the Charter Review Commission would like the town to do, does no more than deliver additional power into the hands of a few. Further, it relegates the taxpayer to the status of being little more than a victimized “cash cow.”

As far-fetched as it might seem, one has to wonder what else can a “select” committee attempt to take away. The red, white, and blue voting booth privacy curtain? Or how about installing a “minder,” Russian word Apraratchik, who sees to it that you vote exactly as the administration demands. Ever since the advent of the Secret Ballot in Dover a vocal minority has attempted to cast the town back to a bygone era, thereby eliminating our voting privacy and our very freedom.

Don’t let it happen! You need only vote “No” to the proposed charter revision at the June municipal election. Don’t let the secret ballot slip away, thereby permitting the views of a minority determine and govern the wishes of the majority.

Preserve your freedom! Control your assets and be mindful that it could all be lost if this theft of your rights is permitted to happen. It’s simple — just vote “No” to the proposed charter.
Don Benjamin
Dover-Foxcroft