I was very disappointed when I arrived at the BPW office Saturday to vote for the board. I handed over my license as identification, and was quickly told that I wasn't registered to vote.
To my surprise I was told that being a registered voter in Delaware, resident of Lewes and user of BPW services wasn't enough to vote for the board. I had to be specifically registered to vote for the BPW board. I asked how I was supposed to know this as there hasn't been an election in six years, and was told that they had sent out a notice.
Well, I get electronic notices of my monthly bills and pay them online, and receive emails and texts when they are going to shut off the water for a variety of reasons, but never received an email telling me I specifically had to register to vote with the BPW.
As a diligent reader of the Cape Gazette I also scoured the past month of electronic newspapers, and never saw a notification from the BPW that a specific registration was required to vote. Today, upon reviewing previous editions of the paper, I did see a few articles about the election, including a highlighted statement in the most recent Cape Gazette stating "registered voters who include Lewes residents and BPW customers outside the city may cast their vote at the BPW office..." I am both a registered voter and a Lewes resident, but was not permitted to vote.
I suspect there are others who received the same message upon showing up at the office to vote. I believe it is incumbent upon the board and staff to appropriately inform the public of the unique process to vote for the council. It seems that the lack of communication of the process might have been intentional, possibly to preclude new members to be elected to the board.
I hope the next election is better publicized by the BPW. The Gazette did a great job informing the public of the candidates, their positions and the issues, but the board and staff didn't do their job to make the election inclusive of newer residents.
Kevin Murphy
Lewes
-
A letter to the editor expresses a reader's opinion and, as such, is not reflective of the editorial opinions of this newspaper.
To submit a letter to the editor for publishing, send an email to newsroom@capegazette.com. Letters must be signed and include a telephone number and address for verification. Please keep letters to 500 words or fewer. We reserve the right to edit for content and length. Letters should be responsive to issues addressed in the Cape Gazette rather than content from other publications or media. Only one letter per author will be published every 30 days. Letters restating information and opinions already offered by the same author will not be used. Letters must focus on issues of general, local concern, not personalities or specific businesses.
