Avery county voters “approved” a land transfer tax yesterday. It was put on the ballot on that time tested voting day, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in February–just when everyone’s thinking about going to the polls. Well, there was a 22 perecent turnout and slightly more than 50 percent of those voting approved. So yes, about 11 percent of the electorate got to raise taxes on the other 89 percent. You gotta love democracy. The local government, which like all governments has never seen a dollar in someone else’s pocket that it didn’t want to confiscate, sets a voting day to minimize turnout and therefore maximize the chances of passage. As we know, democracy is not about the people’s will but about how you manipulate the vote.