I was not at all surprised to see that there had been a very low turn-out for the Looe Harbour Commission board election. I am entitled to vote but I did not. Look at it from my position. A few weeks ago I received local government election information through my letterbox. I have opted for postal voting. It took me several minutes to inspect both sides of each sheet of paper and I eventually found, in small print, on the back of the ballot form the purpose of the election. There were 14 names and addresses on the ballot form and I was informed that I could vote for up to 10 candidates. I have lived in Looe for nearly three years but I do not work in the town. I occasionally visit a few of the pubs and restaurants in the town and I am a strong supporter of shopping locally when I can. I often stroll around the harbour area just taking in the atmosphere and enjoying this lovely town. I realise that the members of the Harbour Commission are doing an important job and that, without them, the town may not have such an attraction for myself and the thousands of visitors that so many of us rely on for our income. I do not know all the things that they are responsible for but I'm sure that they are doing a good job for the community. But I don't feel that I am informed about them. Who are they? Where are they? What are they? What do they really do? Lacking this knowledge, and not knowing any of the names on the ballot paper, I could not vote for anybody on the list. It is very possible that I do know several of the people who wanted my vote, perhaps by first name, nickname, or just by sight but I could not give my vote to any of them without more information. They would not expect me to buy a car because I liked the look of the name. If the commissioners had provided a little background information sheet in the envelope then I would have been in a better position to make my choices. In future I will ask a few more questions in town and try to make myself more informed when the next election comes around.
C BOWER Looe