Ryan Mahalsky, Hillsborough
Serving on a jury, cleaning up after your dog, voting in an election. All of these are civic duties. Some people never get summoned for jury duty, and not everybody has a dog, but US citizens over the age of eighteen have the right to vote. Even today other countries strive to emulate American freedom by fighting for this right.
Yet voter turnout has been literally half-hearted here in Hillsborough. Only 12,416 of our township’s 24,456 registered voters cast ballots in last year’s hotly contested governor’s race, just slightly more than 50 percent for such an important election.
Next Tuesday, Hillsborough offers two radically different but equally compelling candidates for the Township Committee. One party features the incumbent Republican Frank DelCore who has done a great job serving Hillsborough Township thus far. The Democratic challenger Maureen Vella, brings a promising perspective to the table. Each platform is readily available in publications such as this one and on their websites which are spelled out on prominently displayed lawn signs on Hillsborough’s thoroughfares, county roads, and neighborhoods.
There is simply no excuse for anyone to claim to be too uninformed to take their right to vote for granted. There is also the convenience of the clearly marked polling locations which are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
With so many local tax issues and the current weak economy directly affecting our borough, it is the civic duty of all eligible township citizens to vote this Nov. 2nd.