Democracy is simple. One person, one vote. No muss, no fuss.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple. There are pages and pages of rules and regulations to make sure people are allowed to vote.

Sometimes, however, the rules get in the way, leaving voters disenfranchised.

During the Oct. 16 election, many folks were frustrated when they tried to vote in the Catholic school board election. Misleading information given to Yellowknifer and poll clerks only added to the confusion.

Some folks, like Lorraine Seale, pay property taxes to both districts and because there was no public board election wanted to vote in the Catholic race.

Others, like Catholic priest Joe Daley, had to double-check with the returning officer after initially being refused the right to vote.

Even so, about 600 more people managed to vote in the YCS election this year, 5,099, compared to 4,503 in 2003. The surge in interest was no doubt over the Catholic board's insistence that only people of Catholic faith be allowed to run for the board.

Under longstanding practise, only people listed as a YCS voter or whose school support isn't indicated on the voters list were allowed to cast ballots.

As territorial returning officer Gail Cyr put it, they didn't want people to "weigh in" on the religion debate.

That's an unfortunate choice of words, because elections are the only time most people can "weigh in" on an issue.

Election rules must make every effort to allow people to vote. Barriers put up to block people from casting ballots are undemocratic.

One of the troubling facts is that even though the city conducted an enumeration during the summer, plenty of homes weren't visited. It's far from a perfect process -- people get missed.

Election officials must also remember that most people are basically lazy when it comes to ensuring their voter information is correct.

Even the Local Authorities Elections Act can be confusing and contradictory.

Under the Act, the voters list can only be changed up until 10 days before an election.

There is also a provision for people to swear a declaration of their eligibility to vote if their name is not on the list.

In the past, people whose school support is shown on the voters list haven't been able to change that selection because it could result in a change being needed to tax rolls, among other things.

The good news is that the territorial government has begun a review of the election act, something that needs to be done before the 2006 vote.

That should include improvements to the enumeration process to make sure everyone gets counted. Why can't that include a review of the tax roll?

It should also include the ability for people to both register to vote and change the information on the voters list on election day.

Editorial Comment
Darrell Greer
Kivalliq News

For those who believe everything comes in cycles, the ugly behaviour that has crept into Rankin Inlet the past few months amounts to nothing more than it simply being this hamlet's turn.

Of course, subscribing to that particular theory provides an easy answer to just about any problem that comes one's way -- ignore it.

The majority of us, however, realize to simply sit back and let nature run its course when trouble comes calling is a fool's philosophy.

The Rankin detachment of the RCMP should be close to attending a council meeting to ask for its support in enforcing the hamlet curfew bylaw.

The reason? The late evening and early morning behaviour of a number of youth in the community is out of control.

Now, we realize eight out of 10 Rankin youth are outstanding young people with no desire to cause damage to people's property, get involved with racist activity or sneak into abandoned buildings to do drugs.

Unfortunately, the two who do give themselves to this type of behaviour do enough damage for all 10.

A number of residents have had their windows smashed with rocks or bombarded with eggs.

While the rocks are more costly to deal with in terms of dollars, if you have ever cleaned egg off a window in -30C temperatures, you know that's no walk in the park either.

But don't take my word for it. Ask my wife. She's become an expert at it during the past year.

And, like other folks in town suffering the same fate, we don't know why these kids want to give us a hard time.

That is, unless we were to start believing what some of them shout at us from the dark after delivering their shell-coated missiles.

If we were to believe that, we would have to accept the fact they hate us for no other reason than the colour of our skin.

As people who have come to think of Rankin as our home during the past eight years, we would support an RCMP initiative to enforce the curfew bylaw.

And, we'd even like the police to give the bylaw more clout.

The parents of these kids are either in the dark about their behaviour or simply don't care.

However, if the RCMP were to keep a tally sheet of a $20 fine for every time a kid was caught out after curfew, caring about their behaviour might become popular quite quickly.

The trick would be to set an amount at which fines owing become collectible.

If the parents refuse to (or cannot) pay, the fines can be erased by community service work.

We're willing to bet folks would take an interest in what their kids are up to after a few guest lodgings or $100 hits to the pocket book.

Hamlet council could help matters by cutting through the red tape to get rid of the remaining abandoned buildings in town that are havens for alcohol and drug abuse.

Rankin is a great little community and, when ugliness rears its head, it takes a community to deal with it.

No community is perfect and no system is flawless, but, a message must be sent that this type of behaviour is unacceptable.

And, if you're caught, someone will pay the price.

Editorial Comment
Dez Loreen
Inuvik Drum

I'm sitting in my office looking outside at the snow covered streets and the frosted windshields of vehicles that drive by. I'm reading the results of the 2006 Inuvik municipal election and I wonder what will come of it all.

In 2000, Derek Lindsay lost the mayoral race to Peter Clarkson by only seven votes. Losing by such a narrow margin is nothing to scoff at, because of the amount of determination that Lindsay possessed since then.

Six years later, Lindsay stood up for his beliefs once again. This time, the people listened and responded in his favour.

I want to congratulate Derek on his victory. A separate congratulations go out to Arlene Hansen and Jeff Otto for putting their names into the hat. It takes a lot to put yourself up on the stage for all to see. The other mayoral candidates had good ideas, I hope Derek takes them with him on his way to the top.

All handshaking and back rubbing aside, the new mayor will need to come through with his campaign promises and deal with the issues that he raised in his platform.

I look forward to learning more about maintaining our utilidor system as well as improving our water pumping system.

As for the councillors who were also elected on Monday night, I hope you are all ready for the trials and challenges ahead of you as well.

I think we will see great things come from council chambers once all the new members are sworn in and take over office early next month.

I also want to seize this moment to thank all those town workers who counted the votes and ensured that the whole process went without a hitch.

Their tireless work all day was worth it just after midnight when the official results were released.

I am, however, embarrassed to think that not any one of the elected candidates was in attendance for the count. The only other people with me in council chambers after the clock struck 12 were town officials and one council candidate who was not elected. Don't worry man, we will always have next term.

While I am sure that most of the candidates were celebrating with the new mayor at his campaign headquarters, I would have liked to see more representation at the time of the results.

I don't even want to start with the low number of voters who came out to make their choice. I cannot understand why it would be so hard to leave work for a few minutes to go and vote.

Hell, registration was not hard. Just sign your name and check a box. But I guess most people just figured that their candidate would be elected regardless of their vote.

I hope you were right. Because like I said in a previous editorial, if you did not vote, then just shut your mouth and accept anything that comes out from town council this term.

Oh well, maybe you will be interested enough to vote next time.

Editorial Comment
Jessica Gray
Deh Cho Drum

As humans, we have an amazing ability to adapt to situations and problems we encounter.

Unfortunately, we're also able to be perfectly apathetic and get used to things that bother us, even if it puts undue stress on life.

These are the musings I had while at the last Fort Simpson village council meeting on Monday.

I may not have lived here for long, but from the sighs and frustrated comments, it's not difficult to see the problems everyone has with garbage pickup.

When Tom Matus, the council's senior administrator, informed them it would cost the village approximately $7,000 a month to add a fifth day to garbage pickup, councillors weren't happy.

But they also weren't very happy with service to date, something they said Fort Simpson residents have brought up time and time again.

Deputy mayor Tom Wilson suggested they ask people to make formal complaints and have their names recorded by the village every time garbage wasn't picked up.

While it seemed to be an idea other councillors agreed with, some felt community members had brought it up so often with few results that they just learned to live with it.

The motto "learn to live with it" isn't so tough to swallow when it comes to garbage pickup.

But it is when it comes to more serious matters such as family violence and underage drinking.

Last week was Family Violence Awareness week and communities all across the Deh Cho refused to "learn to live with it" and instead embraced education and healthy discussion.

But how did it go from something people didn't talk about to a full fledged week of events designed to get promote awareness?

While I can't say for sure, it was likely someone cared enough about the issue and decided enough was enough.

Someone like Robert Byatt, the principal at Thomas Simpson high school. He submitted a letter to village council explaining how underage drinking, something the community has dealt with before, seems to be growing problem again.

Not only did he bring it up with the mayor and council, but he spoke to the Liidlii Kue First Nation and the RCMP about what he was seeing and the need to do something about it.

He even brought it to the attention of the school district Tuesday evening. Byatt may not have had a solution ready at hand, but his letter did its job by forcing people to face the issue.

Almost every councillor had something to say or a suggestion, just like Chief Keyna Norwegian and the RCMP whom he also addressed.

So if one person can start the ball rolling on a serious issue affecting the community, how hard can it be for the new council to figure out its garbage problem? Not so hard I think.

- Regular Drum editor Roxanna Thompson is on vacation. She returns next week.

An error appeared in last Wednesday's Yellowknifer ("Disappearing act at the Dump," Oct. 18). Contaminated soil broken down through a natural occurring process is called biodegradation. On the TGIF section of last Friday's Yellowknifer, the wrong date was given for opening of the Yellowknife Food Bank. The correct date is Oct. 28. Also, Hanna Steinwand was improperly identified in a photo caption ("Vigil draws support for family violence victims," Oct. 20). Additionally, the Department of Transportation has yet to conclude why a ferry struck bottom ("Low water blamed for Providence ferry accident"). Yellowknifer apologizes for any embarrassment or confusion caused by the errors.