Manalapan’s silent majority shows they don’t care enough to vote

Your recent editorial on Covered Bridge voters hit the mark. However, the suggestion you made that had Republicans done more for Covered Bridge then the outcome may have been reversed, has little merit.

The Covered Bridge community since its establishment over 30 years ago has never supported a Republican seeking local office.

Yet, when they wanted their roads made private, then backtracked and made public when repairs were warranted because they were in disrepair; when they wanted a traffic light installed at their entrance; when they wanted garbage collection taken over by the township, it was the Republican office holders who met their request.

The problem local Republican candidates face is not that Covered Bridge votes, but that the majority of registered voters in Manalapan don’t vote. This year it was 72 percent (not voting).

During the last four years, the press has constantly reported controversy and infighting among Township Committee members. They have exhaustively covered the many ongoing investigations at the local, county and state levels in the construction department, code enforcement, the administration department and committee members themselves.

Yet, 72 percent of Manalapan voters said, "I don’t care."

If the voters don’t care, why should the elected officials care? They don’t need your vote as long as Covered Bridge votes.

Voting on a local level has the greatest impact on our daily lives and our pocketbook. It affects every facet of our lives and those of our families. Voting is a right, a privilege and a duty. Everyone should exercise that right if they care for the community they have invested in to raise a family.

Most elected officials respond to those who elect them. If you were they, who would you respond to — the vocal minority who does vote, or the silent majority who does not?

Fred G. Storz

Manalapan