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Big news for the residents of the municipality of Horw LU: Voters received almost 200 pages of documents for the municipal vote on March 3. The material is quite dry. The partial review of local planning will be voted on.
For some Horwers this causes buzzing heads – and annoyance. The “Luzerner Zeitung” has received letters from the editor. In it, residents complain about the ‘legalese’ and the excess of information. The community also received a letter and some emails, Christian Volken, communications officer for the Horw community, told Blick.
About six tons of waste
In addition to the decision at the ballot box, there is ultimately a large mountain of waste paper left over. According to Volken, the ballot envelope weighs a whopping 575 grams and has been sent to 10,386 residents of the community. Roughly speaking, this amounts to about six tons of waste. Two Horwers did not want to throw away the documents themselves: they simply sent the voting documents back to the community, says Volken.
Construction manager Thomas Zemp (55) explains the paper battle in the “Luzerner Zeitung” as follows: The guidelines of the Canton of Lucerne require that the documents must be sent in full. A shorter message could lead to voting rights complaints complaining about incomplete information. “We absolutely do not want to take this risk and the resulting delays,” says Zemp.
“It’s a big topic in Horw”
Cantonal councilor Gaudenz Zemp (61) wants to have this arrangement revised and therefore submitted a request to the government of Lucerne last Tuesday. “I would like to see clarity on how the law can be reformed so that we don’t have to go through this again,” he explains to Blick.
The dossier sparked lively discussions in the community: “It’s a big topic in Horw. “Everyone is wondering how to deal with this enormous amount of information,” says Zemp. The complexity of the documents leads to uncertainty and dissatisfaction. “These are bad circumstances to vote on a proposal. Then you quickly defiantly say no or don’t vote at all.”
Big envelopes also for other communities
Other communities in the canton should be prepared for similarly thick envelopes. The municipalities of Lucerne are currently revising their local planning as the overarching guidelines of the federal government and the canton have changed.
The postal service also sparked debate in Zurich ahead of last November’s elections. A postulate by FDP city councilors Flurin Cappaul (45) and Jehuda Spielmann (28) suggests that Zurich residents can simply unsubscribe from city voting documents. Most citizens would receive information via digital channels anyway, the municipal councilors argue in their proposal. A majority of the city parliament approved this and passed the proposal on to the city council.
Source:Blick
I am Liam Livingstone and I work in a news website. My main job is to write articles for the 24 Instant News. My specialty is covering politics and current affairs, which I’m passionate about. I have worked in this field for more than 5 years now and it’s been an amazing journey. With each passing day, my knowledge increases as well as my experience of the world we live in today.
