For 15 years, Salem has tried to keep everyone satisfied by offering a mixed form of government. They switched from pure Town Meeting voting, where people had to actually meet and discuss, then vote on the issues, to one using the official ballot law, commonly known as SB2, which allows voters to decide on candidates and warrants in the privacy of the voting booth.

Then, to retain the traditional feel, town officials added another meeting after that vote, where people who attended would get to decide on a lot of money issues not included in the budget and not requiring the passage of bonds.

But this is no mere symbolic nod to the past. Millions of dollars in spending for roads and other items are discussed and voted on at this “second deliberative session,” usually by fewer than 200 people.

It’s time for this antiquated, inefficient system to go. The 2008 census counted more than 29,000 Salem residents, ranking it sixth among New Hampshire’s incorporated cities and towns. This is no longer a sleepy hamlet filled with summer homes for Massachusetts vacationers.

Salem is a busy, thriving town, and its busy residents deserve to have a say in how their tax dollars are spent. Every single last dollar. And the voting booth is the best way to faciliate that.

Salem selectmen need to do what the Charter Commission failed to do: Change this system to one that gives the most people a voice.

- Editorials published by Neighborhood News Inc. are written by an editorial board.

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