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I live here but can't vote in this election. Should I still submit local feedback?

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"Leave the priorities to the voters," someone told me when I offered a comment about the town's evening facilities.

I live here and use those facilities, but I am not eligible to vote in the election being discussed. I wasn't claiming otherwise. The feedback invitation asks residents for their views and doesn't seem to say that respondents must be electors; I haven't checked that with the organiser yet.

The comment I want to make is about keeping a place open after work. I don't want to speak for everyone in my position or imply that my response carries an electoral mandate. I just don't see why the closing time stops affecting me.

What would be a constructive way to check participation and offer my view without turning the response into an argument about voting eligibility?

Discussion

4 community replies

Check the invitation's actual participation criteria with the organiser. If residents in your position are included, submit as one resident with a particular use of the facilities. Don't let someone else's assertion replace the stated arrangements, and don't assume arrangements the invitation hasn't made clear.

The person who spoke may be concerned about who has authority to make the final decision. Giving feedback isn't necessarily the same role as making it. Explain that you want the decision-makers to understand your use after work, rather than claiming that your comment settles the town's priorities.

You don't owe the whole discussion a detailed account of why you cannot vote. Provide whatever the official participation process appropriately asks for, and decide separately what you want to disclose to fellow residents. The opening-hours point can be explained without a public review of your status.

Keep the example small enough to be accurate: when you use the facility and what the proposed hours would change for you. You shouldn't have to manufacture a group behind you to make the comment worth considering.

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