What a bad week for the campaign watchers!
This week has been a bad one for those of us who expect candidates to do something. Read this email from a correspondent who is also pulling out his hair over the lack of action by the candidates:
My kids are asking: Where are the election lawn signs?
Lawn signs - by their very nature - are in fact - a public discussion on issues. So where is the democratic debate? Where is the fertilizer manure for our lawns?
It’s election time and my kids want to start playing our favorite car game - “cast your vote”. Our tradition come election time is this. When we drive around town everyone picks a candidate and we start counting the signs until we get home.The candidate with the highest sign count gets elected!
Best part is there are no spoiled ballots - unless a heavy wind blows a sign half-off its stake.
It’s a daily education of civics and democracy in the car! And you can switch your candidate every day like Belinda crossing the floor.
But my little deputy returning officers have nothing to do in their mobile polling station! This isn’t just a game we are missing out on - we are losing valuable quality family time.
On a 10 minute drive around town there are only a handful of signs to count On this basis -this election is to close call. Two minutes in the car - its game over and they’re starting ask - are we there yet??
With manicured lawns the norm in town -(and only one candidate with a naturalized lawn with a sign that barely peeks out from the weeds - sorry meant wild flowers) - I have an unobstructed sight line from my car. So, I can only assume that candidates have abandoned the sign wars strategy this time around.
Where is the value of local government in action if the candidates don’t make the effort to litter our lawns with coreplast signs and wooden stakes?? Where is the character education building opportunity for my children?
I spent a fortune on Chismbop so they could do long-division with their toes and use their fingers for their 9x‘s table! The current game - with four weeks to go and with no name brand presence by candidates means they can do it in their head without a calculator or a pencil. It takes them fewer than the five fingers on their little hand to come up with a total. On this basis, our daily voter turnout works out to be about 5%.
Where’s the challenge - where’s the math skill - where's the fun?
Maybe the times are a changing. Maybe a clean sweep of the recognizable names in Cobourg is in the making? Maybe voters will only be selecting a name on the ballot they don't recognize as the safest choice for change?? . Will voters want to mark an 'X" against only the candidate(s) they don't know or recognize! If so than - the best election strategy for the new crop of candidates in Cobourg is to fly under the radar. The candidate with the weakest campaign team and fewest signs will have the strategic advantage!
No lawn-sign discourse from our candidates or family values in the car? It's a price I would gladly pay.
The next event that candidates and voters have to watch is the All Candidates meeting at the local High School on Tuesday. This sterile and neutered event is "staged" by the local Chamber of Commerce and hosted by the designated wit of the moment as defined by the C of C. This event is a waste of space for all due to its choreography and slanted questions and the lack of time given to the candidates to express their views. For example the Deputy Mayor candidates get 1 (one) minute to open their remarks. What the heck can you say in one minute?
Still we will all troop down to the meeting expecting to see something and then after being dazzled (!!!) by the candidates we will all dutifly vote. Some of us want more to look at and as another observer has noted this charade is an affront to local democracy and all the local media is to blame. We wanted more than just puff pieces and little coverage from the media. I did hear that "Huff & Puff" has made up his mind but it is a secret just who he will be voting for I can hardly wait for that announcement. I have also heard that another candidate was heard to complain that the local papers will not print letters to the editor from candidates during the election period. Do something and maybe you will get some coverage.
My kids are asking: Where are the election lawn signs?
Lawn signs - by their very nature - are in fact - a public discussion on issues. So where is the democratic debate? Where is the fertilizer manure for our lawns?
It’s election time and my kids want to start playing our favorite car game - “cast your vote”. Our tradition come election time is this. When we drive around town everyone picks a candidate and we start counting the signs until we get home.The candidate with the highest sign count gets elected!
Best part is there are no spoiled ballots - unless a heavy wind blows a sign half-off its stake.
It’s a daily education of civics and democracy in the car! And you can switch your candidate every day like Belinda crossing the floor.
But my little deputy returning officers have nothing to do in their mobile polling station! This isn’t just a game we are missing out on - we are losing valuable quality family time.
On a 10 minute drive around town there are only a handful of signs to count On this basis -this election is to close call. Two minutes in the car - its game over and they’re starting ask - are we there yet??
With manicured lawns the norm in town -(and only one candidate with a naturalized lawn with a sign that barely peeks out from the weeds - sorry meant wild flowers) - I have an unobstructed sight line from my car. So, I can only assume that candidates have abandoned the sign wars strategy this time around.
Where is the value of local government in action if the candidates don’t make the effort to litter our lawns with coreplast signs and wooden stakes?? Where is the character education building opportunity for my children?
I spent a fortune on Chismbop so they could do long-division with their toes and use their fingers for their 9x‘s table! The current game - with four weeks to go and with no name brand presence by candidates means they can do it in their head without a calculator or a pencil. It takes them fewer than the five fingers on their little hand to come up with a total. On this basis, our daily voter turnout works out to be about 5%.
Where’s the challenge - where’s the math skill - where's the fun?
Maybe the times are a changing. Maybe a clean sweep of the recognizable names in Cobourg is in the making? Maybe voters will only be selecting a name on the ballot they don't recognize as the safest choice for change?? . Will voters want to mark an 'X" against only the candidate(s) they don't know or recognize! If so than - the best election strategy for the new crop of candidates in Cobourg is to fly under the radar. The candidate with the weakest campaign team and fewest signs will have the strategic advantage!
No lawn-sign discourse from our candidates or family values in the car? It's a price I would gladly pay.
The next event that candidates and voters have to watch is the All Candidates meeting at the local High School on Tuesday. This sterile and neutered event is "staged" by the local Chamber of Commerce and hosted by the designated wit of the moment as defined by the C of C. This event is a waste of space for all due to its choreography and slanted questions and the lack of time given to the candidates to express their views. For example the Deputy Mayor candidates get 1 (one) minute to open their remarks. What the heck can you say in one minute?
Still we will all troop down to the meeting expecting to see something and then after being dazzled (!!!) by the candidates we will all dutifly vote. Some of us want more to look at and as another observer has noted this charade is an affront to local democracy and all the local media is to blame. We wanted more than just puff pieces and little coverage from the media. I did hear that "Huff & Puff" has made up his mind but it is a secret just who he will be voting for I can hardly wait for that announcement. I have also heard that another candidate was heard to complain that the local papers will not print letters to the editor from candidates during the election period. Do something and maybe you will get some coverage.
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