You're almost certainly going to be ticked off by something Delta council or the Delta school board does over the next three years.
Maybe your property taxes will rise faster than you'd like, that infill subdivision around the corner is denser than you'd prefer or the school at the end of the block is poised to close. Perhaps it's a beef with garbage collection or the lack of classroom support for children with special needs.
It could be almost anything, but you can be guaranteed there will be something that gets your goat. It might not be sufficient to prompt you to lodge a formal complaint or write a letter to the editor, but it will get far enough under your skin that when the issue is raised your spouse or neighbour will run in the opposite direction in order not to hear the rant again.
I feel for them, but not necessarily for about two-thirds of those who are doing the complaining. Why? Because you didn't vote.
Civic elections historically have the poorest voter turnout and it's likely tomorrow's edition will once again prove underwhelming at the ballot box. Delta, particularly South Delta, is a pretty active community when it comes to all things political, but our civic voting history isn't pretty.
Only once in the last six municipal elections has voter turnout exceeded 40 per cent and in 2008 barely three in 10 voters made their way to the polls, the lowest total in recent memory.
That election was a bit of a snoozer, and was even devoid of a race for school board seats, so perhaps voters could be given a mulligan, but there's nothing preventing them from exercising their democratic right this time around.
This election features a competitive, four-way race for the mayor's chair, 13 vying for council seats and a cast of 20 looking to get on the school board. There are strong candidates in all the races, so it's a matter of figuring out which ones have platforms that line up with your own views.
Yes, it requires a bit of homework, and a few minutes out of your day to actually go to the polls tomorrow, but it's worth the effort.
Now, I can't guarantee that if you do get out and vote, and your chosen candidates are elected, that your life will be problem-free for the next three years. In fact, that scenario seems highly unlikely.
What I can tell you, however, is when those inevitable concerns do arise, you are well within your right to voice your complaints to whoever you can find to listen.
