The democratic process was derailed in Baxter Estates last week, when voters from a handful of households secretly elected a Mayor. For reasons unknown to the overwhelming majority of village residents, this small group of people wrote in the name of a person who did not appear on the ballot, a person who did not take a public stand on a single issue affecting the village he wished to govern. Certainly, there was a write-in line on the Baxter Estates ballot. But what was written on it made a sham of the democratic ideals upon which our country stands. The people of Baxter Estates deserve better.

Jackie McGowan