On Common Courtesy

At A Voting Place

To the Editor:

Few actions we take as citizens engage us as much with the political process as does voting on Election Day. I hold as a treasure of our democracy that my vote is private and matters.

It is with this firmly held belief that I was deeply offended at what happened to me and other voters 76 feet from the middle school polling place on Election Day 2007. I was accosted by representatives of the so-called independent party, who repeatedly asked me about my political beliefs and if I supported their party.

Within the bounds of common decency and respecting the privacy of the voting place, I was stunned that people who want to lead this town to a new place, a new future, could be so rude and profoundly uniformed about the political process.

When people who want voter support for their leadership ideas so brazenly offend voters before they are elected, they signal early and deeply how they will behave once in office.

Kenneth R. Freeston

8 King Street, Newtown                                            November 6, 2007