It never ceases to amaze me how deaf some people are to their own rhetoric. Take Sanford, Maine, Mayor Becky Brink. As part of a consolidation plan to take the city from three polling places to one, she expressed some concerns about one location in particular.
The move to consolidate the polling locations was purportedly part of an effort to streamline election day voting, and to make it cheaper to staff and provide security at a single polling location.
However, while discussing the proposal with the City Council on Tuesday, Mayor Brink revealed another possible motive behind the consolidation — a conflict of interest caused by the wife of Sanford Christian Academy Pastor Todd Bell running against Sanford Democratic State Rep. Anne-Marie Mastraccio in Maine House District 142.
One of the eliminated polling locations, the Sanford Christian Academy Riverside Campus — formerly known as the St. Ignatius Parish Hall-Gym — previously served voters in Sanford Ward #2, which overlaps with House District 142.
If the City can’t ensure election integrity at a polling place at a Christian Academy whose owner happens to be a candidate, how then does it manage to do the same thing in public schools where the majority of staff, teachers, and administration support Todd Bell’s Democrat opponent?
“I’m not insulting you or your wife, because I really appreciate you, and I appreciate the fact that you’re willing to run for office, but there would be a problem with our having a vote in a building that you are a part of,” Brink continued.
“That would definitely come under conflict of interest, so I would be concerned — I mean, definitely that would be a location that I would remove at that point,” she said.
My question stands, Mayor Brink. How is using a government building filled with people who have a financial and ideological insert in Todd Bell (or any other Republican losing) not also a conflict of interest? People who, with perhaps a few exceptions, accept no power greater than the government.
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