People should be appalled by Civic Association election

I would like to believe that any fair-minded person, no matter their party affiliation, would be appalled by the events at the annual Civic Association meeting on Nov. 8. I was there and I voted, but it never occurred to me that proxy votes had been handed out days before the meeting -- and with only six of the 10 candidates' listed.

I was already outraged when dear friends of mine whispered to me after the vote that night that a member of the board of directors had told them to vote for the first six people listed on the ballot.

Proxy votes? How can these incomplete proxy votes possibly be legal?  Instructions on whom to vote for? Unbelievable and, yes, un-American.

I was the treasurer of the Civic Association for 10 years, from 1993 until 2003. I saw the partisanship beginning, and finally taking over. From the beginning we had tried to keep it non-partisan as the bylaws state:

"The objectives of the association are to maintain the rural character of the township as a healthful, safe, pleasant residential community and to promote the solution of problems affecting the community on a friendly, cooperative and completely non-partisan basis."

I know of only one member on the board of directors now who has consistently tried to keep it that way.

It is a joke to say that it is non-partisan when it is really just the arm of one party. This blatant partisanship alienates so many good people in our community. We should work to have our Civic Association's board of directors be a fair representation of all members of our community.

We should start by throwing out the incomplete and questionable proxy votes and using only the ballots from the people who were in attendance.

Clara Todd

Chadds Ford Township