The voter turnout on Tuesday, Nov. 5 will be light – much lighter than next November, a presidential election year.

However, ballots will be handed out at our local town offices from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the votes will be counted.

Some say, "Why vote? My vote won't matter." Well, if everyone took that stance, then we wouldn't have much of a democracy, would we?

The right to vote is precious and important in the democratic process. Voting is a way of expressing our opinion on how our government should be run, where our taxes should be spent, and who should be elected to lead us.

Voting is a responsibility, our "civic duty."

I admit that I have missed a few voting opportunities over the years and my excuses were usually pretty lame for not doing so, but I now know that a few local races or issues were decided by a few votes and, for example, if my brothers and I (five of us) all didn't vote, the outcome might have gone the other way.

The statewide vote on Tuesday includes a bond issue for $105 million "To Improve Highways, Bridges and Multimodal Facilities," and a Constitutional Resolution "to allow persons with disabilities to sign petitions in an alternative manner as authorized by the Legislature?"

Locally, Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor are voting on a revision to the Boothbay Region Sewer District Charter and in Boothbay Harbor there are additional votes on changing ordinance wording regarding the measurement process in the Height of Structure and a change in definition of Land Uses in the Shoreland Zone in the Working Waterfront District.

So, why vote?

Because we can ... and we should. And because the people who need these decisions made are depending on it.