Will We Create a New Democracy - The Two Vote, Losers System

I continue to be amazed at the back and forth around the Police issue. Elections throughout America's history have been decided by incredibly slim majorities but the losers have not, to my knowledge, gotten a new vote because they lost by a small margin. In Senates, Houses of Representatives and Town Councils all over our country, those vital issues too, are often decided by one vote, yet there is no process for a revote. That is our Democratic system and that is how it works

Losing a vote by a small margin is tough. I'm reminded of George Bush's result in Florida; in that vote, a Presidential election for 300,000,000 citizens was decided by 2000 votes and a few hanging chads. Al Gore, the loser, cared enough about our country to refuse to create a continuing national nightmare - a decision I reluctantly agreed with. In that case, the court said that,

"revote"--i.e., a special election remedy--is categorically illegal...regardless of the severity of the electoral problems occurring on election day".

If we surrender to our revote proposal, we will create a New Democracy, - The Two Vote, Losers System - in which losers get to have a revote and it will apply equally to all outcomes and all sides. That would double the cost of our elections, double the time our candidates have to spend visiting, and then re-visiting our homes, double the cost to the candidate of creating collateral materials and double the time it would take to get a decision. That means when we have our next Town Council election, we would either have the first vote in June so that the second, contested vote could take place in the legal framework for November, or we could just have a six month, "Lame duck" Town Council until the official revote takes place in January or February.

I would ask the losers in this election to understand what it is they are creating; this door does not simply open once. Once opened, it does not close. If we negate the system that has sustained our country for two hundred years, if we negate the votes of a majority of citizens, we will have set a precedent that will suck this town dry politically, emotional and culturally. I believe the people who care about the Police Force would be the first among us to say they care about Copake. If you care about Copake, I would ask you to take your heads out of the sand and look at the big picture. It may not be the losers intention to see our town divided like some mini Civil War but that is what they will get. If the losers don't see that, I hope the new Town Council does because what will happen in our meetings for years to come will make the previous administration's acrimony look like a walk in the park.

Ian Jarvis