BRATTLEBORO — A 38-vote margin is hardly a mandate in any arena. Of all registered voters, about 5.7 percent were counted as in favor of the local-option sales tax, and about 5.3 percent against it. A hefty 11-percent turnout would be rejected as a boycotted vote if we applied the standards of the United Nations.
What's appalling is that the author completely omits that the vote was up front and nonbinding. Yet she insists it formed a mandate, whereas it is a simple template for the definition “statistically insignificant.”
There's a reason that Town Meeting representatives are given discretion, especially on issues like these. None of the reps were bound by the actual terms of the popular vote.