Brennan: Not Voting is a Yes Vote

Whatever waves of dissention rippled through Wilton last week, it wasn’t felt by many—roughly 88 percent of the voting populace did not vote, and of those who did, most agreed to pass the budget as it were. First Selectman William Brennan, speaking for the Board of Selectmen (BoS) at Monday night’s BoS meeting at , said that the low voter turnout meant that the majority of Wilton’s eligible voters approved the budget.

Brennan said he was encouraged to see the by “a wide margin” but was also “disappointed to see only 12 percent” of the voting populace cast their ballots.

The FY 2013 budget included a number of different projects and increased the mill rate by less than one percent. If less than 15 percent of the voting populace votes, then the budget passes automatically.

“When you have a budget that has less than a one percent increase, and you have a bunch of capital projects that pass by relatively wide margins, that adds up to satisfaction. People were satisfied. And if they don’t vote, we interpret that as a ‘yes’ vote, so this budget passed by a very wide margin,” said Brennan.

He believed that if the budget was ill-received, more would have turned out to make their voice and vote heard.

“This town is well-educated, and if they have any problem, they come out and voice their feelings. So when they didn’t come out, they’re saying they’re satisfied,” he said.

“It’s everyone’s civic duty to vote, and it’s their right; people forget it’s a precious right.”

“Hopefully next time we’ll have a better turnout, but everything passed, and that’s our objective,” said Brennan before almost symbolically turning a page in the binder before him.

What do you think? If you did not agree with the budget, did you vote against it?