June 25, 2012Dear Sir,I write in response to Mr Walton Brown’s opinion piece “Don’t restrict voting rights” in The Royal Gazette of June 21, 2012.Mr Brown will be aware that the vast majority of Long Term Residents do not have the right to vote in Bermuda.An 18-year-old Bermudian who has never paid taxes can vote — why not a taxpaying non-Bermudian who has been continuously resident on the Island for more than 18 years?Mr Brown’s opinion concluded with the following two sentences relating to general elections:“Let us not try to fashion an outcome by restricting the vote and manipulating who gets to participate. Our democracy deserves better”.I could not agree more.CLIVE DAKINCity of Hamilton