Barack Obama's victory has proven to Americans all over that there is power in casting a ballot.  This is a lesson that will prove valuable in empowering New Brunswick to have actual elections that matter.

Yesterday, three  of New Brunswick's five council members were re-elected to four-year terms without so much as a single opponent on the ballot.  This was the first and only local election on the ballot since 2006.  The next local election will be for EON's ward question next November.

The re-election of our city leaders has very little to do with the work they've done in the City being endorsed or even acknowledged by voters, it is because the voters had no choice, short of a write-in.  EON was at the polls, and we know you probably didn't go there to cast your vote for Garlatti, Cook, or Recine.  You may have chosen to write someone else in on the local level, but ultimately you want an election where you have a chance to make a real difference.

Fortunately, EON's campaign for the ward question is that chance.

The reason voters have so few choices is that few people outside of the wealthy and well-connected have the capital to mount a citywide campaign.  We firmly believe that switching to wards will enable potential candidates from all walks of life to earn a seat on the council by winning the respect of their neighbors.

This, among other reasons, is why Empower Our Neighborhoods chose to spearhead the campaign for ward-based Council elections.  We had originally hoped to share the 2008 ballot with Obama's historic victory.  However, the anti-change and anti-democratic City Council did what they always do whenever anyone proposes a change in the form of this City's government: they did everything within their power to keep it from going to a vote.

They succeeded in delaying the inevitable in 2008 with some last-minute shenanigans in court.  But, they will have no such luck in delaying our second petition for the ward question this year.

This is the next step in taking back our neighborhoods. 

Barack Obama said last night:

"I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand."

Empower Our Neighborhoods is committed to the hard work of fixing problems in our City, both in the bureaucracy and in our neighborhoods, one at a time.  We have the most effective chance of bringing change if we first help to make our local elections more democratic.  Wards can do that!

Now that we have a progressive president and progressive state and federal representation, it is time to seek a more democratic municipal government: one that truly represents everyone in this City, not just the wealthy or well-connected.

In some ways it is better that we will be able to focus New Brunswick's electoral energy entirely behind wards in 2009.  Not just for that reason, but also because we can keep the momentum going.  The wave of change must continue in New Brunswick.  Complacency of voters is how we got into this whole mess.  Mobilization of voters is how we will get out of it.

There was a time not long ago when few believed Barack Obama could be our President and perhaps fewer believed that wards will come to New Brunswick.  But, through an effective and inclusive campaign, Empower Our Neighborhoods can, like the Obama campaign, unite the necessary forces to fix the broken system that governs us.

If you thought this election was amazing, just wait until November 3, 2009.  If you want to get in on the ground floor, click here and join the ward campaign.

YES WE CAN!