Letters to the editor

Limited voting another way to stifle voices

The Boulder City municipal election is in the books. Voter turnout was low — 26 percent.

Early voting was severely restricted by the city clerk to just four days. In all, 36.6 percent of votes were cast on Election Day while 51.1 percent were cast in the arbitrarily limited early voting period.

Mail-in ballots accounted for 12.3 percent. Boulder City was the only Clark County municipality to deny the normal early voting period to its citizens this year. Why limit the period of time most citizens prefer?

The old saw is “it’s expensive to hold elections.” But it’s nowhere near as expensive as suing the pants off your citizens who dare to participate in their government through the initiative process.

The takeaway is clear: The anointed have no desire to hear from most of us. The result is to limit our voices.

The faucet of money that generates more money for the few appears to have again been loosed to decide elections. We will now surely hear of the “mandate” these candidates have received to transform Boulder City into a place you won’t much recognize in a few short years.

It would have been the right thing for our elected officials to let us in on the secrets they plan for Boulder City. The charade known as Envision 2020 would have been an excellent opportunity to have done so, but that expensive effort appears to have been intended only to mislead. Never again will it be mentioned by a council that just nearly doubled its pay.

Apparently we can’t handle the truth. You may want to take a deep breath now before the asbestos is spread. Buckle up, Boulder City, the ride is just beginning.

Kiernan McManus