League of Women Voters: Town Committees Must Give Voters More Candidate Choices

Letter to the editor from Sandy Water, President, League of Women Voters of Greenwich

The League of Women Voters of Greenwich believes that voters should have a choice of candidates when voting for local offices.

Such choice is limited when selecting members of the Board of Selectmen and nonexistent when voting for the Board of Estimate and Taxation, unless third party or independent candidates have qualified.

Greenwich voters are fortunate that a mechanism exists to provide a choice in electing the Board of Education.  Town Committees are permitted to nominate up to twice the number of candidates as there are openings on the board.  We urge the Town Committees to provide such choice to our voters by nominating the extra candidates for the Board.

The Board of Education is a critical part of our Town Government. Recent rapid changes in the school administration leadership point to the need to carefully examine the proposed Board candidates and their plans for guiding our schools. A vigorous discussion among the nominated candidates is needed.

In turn, the League will provide nonpartisan forums to enable the public to meet the candidates and listen to their views.  We will also publish the usual nonpartisan Voters Guide to present the candidates to the voting public.

Sandy Waters
President, Greenwich League of Women Voters