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College vote unfair to Red Hook citizens
Red Hook citizens voted for Rob Latimer. He lost the election because of the college student votes.
In four years, 95 percent or more of the students will not live in Red Hook. In four years, 95 percent or more of the citizens of Red Hook will still be here.
Whether the college student votes were Democrat or Republican does not matter. It is not fair to the citizens who reside permanently in Red Hook, and who pay taxes here, and really care about what happens in their hometown. There has to be a better way to allow college students to exercise their right to vote while not negating the rights and wishes of the permanent citizens of Red Hook.
Bill Crane, Red Hook
(NOTE Cranes wife , the town supervisor, was also a Bard student which begs the question , "did she vote as a student ? " |
Bard Student Responds
In response to his letter in the Poughkeepsie Journal on November 21st, it is not clear to me how Mr. Crane considers it "unfair" to count votes legally cast by Bard students.
I am a Red Hook High School graduate, an active volunteer in the Red Hook community, and until recently was employed by the Town of Red Hook as the Deputy Planning Clerk. I now attend Bard College on scholarship, in part so that I can continue to live here.
I have dedicated countless hours to my community, through student government in the Red Hook school system, the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, participation in local government, and many other efforts and organizations. With that in mind, I fail to understand where Mr. Crane finds the grounds to criticize myself and my peers for being involved in the civic process of the community we call home, simply because we are college students here.
Our nation is founded on the principle of representative government, on the belief that all citizens of voting age may have a voice in electing their leaders. My grandfather served in World War II to preserve democracy, both in America and overseas. It is hard to imagine that he would ever have questioned a citizen's right to vote because they held political views he disagreed with. Having been raised with that legacy, I can only reject Mr. Crane's assertion that I should not be voting in the town I call home.
Pat Kelly
Red Hook, NY |
PJ Editorial
GOP, Don't Blame Bard Students For Your Defeat
Recently, the Republican Party has been losing big. Because the Republicans have self-destructed, they are looking for scapegoats to assign blame for their electoral defeat. Yet, rather than look within to change their party, they complain the election results are unfair because of changing demographics.
A favorite target of Republican tantrums is the Bard community and its decision to exercise the constitutional right to vote in the district where a person is domiciled and subject to the enforcement of local laws. Yet, if Bard students shopped exclusively in Kingston, there would be no small businesses in Red Hook. If the Bard community is voting against the Republicans, it's because they, including Supervisor Sue Crane, have alienated themselves from the electorate. A recent letter ("College vote unfair to Red Hook citizens," Nov. 21) by Bill Crane persists in this provincial attitude of us versus them.
Poor Republican leadership has led to the drastic changes in demographics that have ousted Republicans from power in Dutchess County. The Republicans are disconnected from the mainstream and the last election proves it. Further, the Republicans' aid to real estate developers to divide Dutchess and sell it to the highest bidders has consequences.
If you want to reap the economic benefits of Bard and real estate development, you must allow Bard and the new homeowners to vote.
Michael S. Pollok
Red Hook
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SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
Mr. Crane's letter to the Poughkeepsie Journal on November 21st criticized Bard students for voting, but he ignored certain statistical realities. Mr. Crane stated that Rob Latimer lost this year's Town Board election "because of the college student votes". The numbers do not bear this out, however. Among those Bard students who are registered to vote, most are in the town's 5th Election District (ED). This district comprises the campus and the Barrytown vicinity. If we remove the 5th ED entirely and only examine the results from the other seven Red Hook election districts, McKeon still wins by close to two hundred votes. Of course, the 5th ED also has voters besides Bard students, so the town's non-Bard margin is even larger than that. Meanwhile, 108 fewer votes were cast in the 5th ED for the Town Board race than were cast for the presidential race. This dropoff rate is higher than in all but two other election districts in our town - an indication that an appreciable sum of students voted nationally, not locally.
The State Supreme Court has guaranteed the right of students to vote at their college addresses. Before we even get into the fact that college students do pay taxes, by spending money locally in stores and on rent, and do have a vested interest in the community where they spend a majority of their time for four years, it is important to realize that students themselves did not throw the election to Mr. McKeon. He won without the 5th ED, so emotional statements about why Mr. Latimer lost his election are without merit. The numbers tell the real story.
Brian Kelly
Red Hook
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