Election Day or 'Groundhog Day'?

Where to elect there is but one,
’T is Hobson’s choice,—take that or none.
--Thomas Ward, English poet (1652-1708)

Do you remember Groundhog Day, the 1993 movie in which Bill Murray wakes up to find that he must relive the same day of his life over and over and over again? Well, that is what Election Day is like in Falls Village. (To refresh your memory, I have supplied a clip from YouTube.) It doesn't matter who you "vote" for or if you vote because no matter what you do First Selectman Pat Mechare will continue to run the town with support from the Board of Selectmen, Pete Lawson and Chuck Lewis. These dedicated public servants have been at this forever: Pete ran the town from 1979 until 1997, and Pat has been on the BOS since 1995. It's not just a non-election for the BOS. You can "vote" for Town Treasurer, Tax Collector, and the Board of Finance, too, but you have no choices. The only way to express your preferences is to vote and not vote judiciously, which would send a message to some candidates that they do not actually have a mandate from their fellow citizens. However, you do have a choice when it comes to electing constables (you can vote for four from a field of seven) and you do get a choice for the Kellogg and Region One Boards of Education, but the Kellogg election is fraught because you only get one vote although there are two open seats. (To review the BOE candidates see the blog posts of Oct. 30 and Oct. 24) How the Kellogg race will play out is anybody's guess. But for the most part, the election is a fait accompli.