Opinion: Why we must change the borough voting date

We must change the borough voting date from October to November. Doing so means that on even years we will be able to vote federal, state, borough and city all at the same time. This will make voting much simpler for the voter and it should make it simpler and less costly for government by having one election a year instead of two.

There is an even more compelling reason to change the voting date i.e. the ramifications of low voter turnout.

Our borough election turnout of voters under the present October date is about 15%. The voter turnout in the state and federal elections held in November is over 60%, a four-fold increase.

Low turnout is dangerous and can have vast negative consequences because the voting can be dominated by an organized minority that takes advantage of the community to extract favorable treatment and money from our government into their coffers.

Here is a true example of organized minority abuse.

Our school board elections, held in October, are heavily influenced by labor unions and they were successful in helping elect a board majority of union sympathizers. When the contract for janitorial services expired our union oriented board chose to sign a labor union contract for janitors at an increased cost of $1.5 million in 2018 over the cost of the private contractor. It is further projected that the excess cost for 2019 would be $2.2 million. It stands to reason that this waste of money will just continue on and on and on unless we take action now.

These extra millions are now coming out of funds that should be utilized in the classroom. Instead we are increasing class sizes in order to make up for the high priced janitors. The burden of large class size will fall on our teachers making them less effective in their job of educating our kids. Bear in mind that our Alaska student test scores are second from the bottom when compared to national test scores while our cost per student is the second highest in the land. This, to me, is disgusting!!

Two of the school board members, (Welton and Retherford) who voted for union janitors, are up for reelection. They need to go. They have shown they are on the school board to protect the unions at the expense of our teachers and our children’s education.

This is only one example of the abuse of our government system and the fleecing of the taxpayer by a greedy organized minority.

What is more frightening is that the present union influenced board has passed a resolution (18-003) that would allow them to bypass the voters for funding approval for the construction of new schools including charter schools. One can see where this is going. New schools mean more union construction jobs. What the school board is saying is “Never mind that we must prove there is a reasonable need. Never mind that you, the taxpayer, will have to pay for all this. Never mind that the cost will be in the millions of dollars for each new school. We know better than you on how to spend your money”. What they are not saying is “Our main job is to enhance and protect our unions”.

Please, I beg of you, vote to change the borough voting date. Don’t give the labor unions a blank check.

Let the loud voice of the people be heard through the ballot box. Go to the polls on October 2nd and vote yes on PROPOSITION NO. B3. Clean out the union influence in the board room. Support our teachers and our children. Vote “yes” to change the voting date.