Archive: Opinions

EditorialVoting at the North Lansing Fire Station is a party.  Not a political party -- an actual party.  Even if you vote at a different polling place it is always fun to go up to the North Lansing station for dinner or supper, depending on when in the day you vote.  In fact the line to get in for the meal is often longer than the line to vote.

That's how voting should be.  Irene Tyrrell and the North Lansing Auxiliary figured out long ago that a good, reasonably priced meal served family style would get out the vote and incidentally raise money to support the fire station, not to mention a litany of good causes and scholarships the auxiliary supports.  You see old friends and neighbors, and meet new ones.  It's a good old fashioned party.

The thing is, election day is something we should want to celebrate.  It may be a cliche, but this is the best country in the world, and the core of that is that we get to vote.  When we do there is a peaceful transition of power, whether it be in the local Town Board or the White House.  That provides a kind of stability in our nation that no other country enjoys.

Most people don't vote and that's a shame.  But the fact that they could if they wanted to is huge.  And events like the North Lansing meals attract voters who otherwise might have blown off the privilege.

This Tuesday will see fewer voters than the one last year.  Last year's election was sexy.  It was a battle between young and old, right and left, and two very different kinds of inspiration.  Non-presidential years never get as many voters.

But that doesn't mean they shouldn't.  This year a few seats (District Attorney, Village of Lansing County Legislator, Town Justice) have only one candidate, but the Town of Lansing County Legislator and two Town Board seats offer real choices that will shape the culture of the town over the next four years.  That is especially important because of the issues we face today: town center, sewer, town / village relations, rural broadband.  These are important because the point of view of our leaders now will literally shape the Lansing of the future.

That should be as important to Village of Lansing voters as to Town voters because of the uneasy peace the communities enjoy.  Village voters actually live in the town, and while the spread of services is different because they are in an incorporated portion of the town, in some ways they are affected by Town decisions more than town-only residents.

I'm excited about the election this year.  I have the sense that it will directly affect my life and those of my neighbors in tangible ways.  And what the heck -- the food is terrific!

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