<div>Dear voters,</div>
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<div>Have you seen the paper election bills on the utility poles in your area yet? If you have, you will notice that it gives you the names of the candidates for each office and that is all. </div>
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<div>These paper postings, along with an advertisement in a paper of general circulation (we use the Town Crier), are the Charter mandated means of getting information about elections out to you. Anything that is done by the town beyond that represents the Mayor and Council going extra steps to give information to the public.
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<div>You will note that when the announcement went out electronically via the Town Announce it included for each candidate the 1) phone number; 2) email address; and 3) web site (if the candidate has one). If you want to have a one-on-one discussion with the candidates for office you are better able to do that now than in any election that has ever occurred in the history of Riverdale Park--and Riverdale Park already had a very good record of constituent access to candidates.
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<div>Every Council member in one way or another advocated providing more information to improve electronic/voice access to the candidates. The only no vote on the current policy for improving this access came from a council member who wanted to go farther still.
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<div>Also, because of a high quality Town Crier newsletter, and the discussions that have occurred on Town Talk over the last 21 months residents have available to them the information that should allow them to understand the basic issues facing the town. On top of this we televise our legislative meetings, and broadcast the audio of our work sessions. Residents are free to and strongly encouraged to attend these meetings in person.
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<div>In conclusion, after watching the current policy in action I can see several things that might need to be changed/improved; however, the system does provide more information and encourages better access to the candidates than has been the case previously. It would be improper to change the rules in the middle of the game, but I will ask the new Council to consider this matter immediately when it convenes in June.
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<div>Best wishes, </div>
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<div>Vern</div>
<div><br>-- <br>Vernon Archer, Mayor<br>Town of Riverdale Park, Maryland </div>