There has been much hullabaloo made about the Bates College students voting in local elections. I’d like to offer my perspective.
In 1999, I was a resident of Manchester, N.H. I had recently finished college and was moving back to Maine in December of that year.
When Election Day came, I submitted a blank ballot. Why? Because I did not think it was right to cast a vote that affected a community I was no longer going to be living in. I believed at the time, and still do, that if I was not going to be around to face the consequences of my vote, for good or bad, I shouldn’t be voting.
Maine law apparently gives Bates College students the right to vote in local elections. Then I say they should vote, with this qualifier — only if they plan on staying in Lewiston to face the consequences of that vote.
My appeal is not to the legal question, it’s to the ethical question. I simply don’t believe it’s ethical to cast a vote to chart the direction of a community if you are not going to be living there to take the journey with them.
My appeal to the students at Bates is this: If you plan on being around to face the consequences of your vote, then vote. I’ll even give you a ride to the polls.
If not, then allow the residents of Lewiston to determine their own fate. Cast your vote for ethical reasons, not political.
Tim Lajoie, Lewiston, City Council-elect Ward 2
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