Education & Threats to Get Voters to the Polls

Aside from debating over where to cut the $80.3 million budget proposal the majority of voters rejected in Tuesday's referendum, budget supporters speaking at the charter required meeting Thursday night focused on the relatively low voter turnout.

Of Monroe's 12,766 registered voters, only 33.4% participated in the referendum. Some of the close to 40 people gathered inside the Town Council Chambers shared suggestions of how to overcome the apathy, with ideas ranging from selling the budget and educating the public to threatening to take away popular programs.

"I think we need to get more of our citizens to vote," said John Ostaszewski, a Board of Finance member. "I think that's the weakness in town. Every vote does count. People need to show their support."

Town Councilman Tony Unger said town officials need to be more positive when discussing the budget and to "sell it more" by finding better ways to show people what the town is doing.

Steve Schapiro, a longtime resident and former youth sports coach, suggested First Selectman Steve Vavrek should do what Schapiro said some past first selectman have done — "threaten" to eliminate popular youth programs like sports and band, so children pressure their parents to vote for the budget.

"Unfortunately in this world today, if you don't threaten people, they don't show up," Schapiro said.

Steve Kirsch, another resident, used a statistic from past referendum votes to put the 140-vote-margin of Tuesday's referendum defeat in perspective. Of 15 referendums that failed on the second try, Kirsch said only four were by fewer votes than Tuesday's defeat.

"So I would keep that in mind when you think about cuts," he told Vavrek.