Big win for water quality in Suffolk
People wait in line to vote at the Mastic Beach Fire Department polling center early Tuesday morning. Credit: Tom Lambui
No matter the final results of this tumultuous 2024 election, it is clear our democracy was a winner in at least one respect. Voters around the country were passionate and came to the polls in droves, both early and on Election Day. Such engagement shows our strength.
Numerous jurisdictions reported record turnouts with reports showing lines of voters snaking through the hallways of buildings and spilling out onto sidewalks and plazas and around distant corners. It was a welcome sight amid all the talk about growing distrust in our nation's institutions — even if voters in some places had to navigate security fences and bulletproof glass, modifications adopted after threats to election workers that started in 2020 and expanded during the 2024 campaign, creating worries about intimidation at the polls.
Unfortunately, there is no way to fortify against social media which was awash Tuesday in apparently baseless charges of malfeasance in the conduct of the election, an unsettling reminder that the nation remains on a knife's edge of tension.
Another threat to electoral calm loomed in Fulton County, Georgia, where five bomb threats, all deemed "noncredible," nevertheless led to temporary evacuations at the two locations. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the threats appeared to originate in Russia. Polling locations in Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other states were similarly targeted with bogus bomb threats, according to the FBI. Alarmingly, a man was arrested in Washington after allegedly attempting to bring a flare gun, lighter and "accelerant" into the Capitol, rekindling memories of Jan. 6.
But those incidents thankfully were the rare exceptions to the overwhelmingly orderly conduct of the election nationally and locally. As the tally continued into the night and probably well beyond that, one welcome and calming result was the approval of Suffolk County's water quality referendum. Proposition 2 was a long time coming — advocates started work on it more than a decade ago — but Suffolk voters by a whopping margin chose wisely as they almost always do when asked to weigh in on protecting the environment and, especially, clean water.
Prop 2 will hike the county sales tax by one-eighth of a penny — 12.5 cents on a $100 purchase — to create a reliable stream of funding for sewer expansion and septic system upgrades that will remove nitrogen from our wastewater. That will improve the water in our rivers, lakes, bays and harbors, as well as the water we drink. Kudos to all who kept working on this — and to the voters who understood its necessity, ignored the misguided and cynical opposition to it, and agreed to tax themselves. This was a long-term win for our region.
Like healthy participation among voters, it's also a plus when a common-sense focus prevails.
MEMBERS OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD are experienced journalists who offer reasoned opinions, based on facts, to encourage informed debate about the issues facing our community.
