By the Coral Gables Gazette editorial board

Coral Gables has placed eight charter questions before its voters in the city’s first all-mail referendum. The ballots have been sent. More than 6,500 have been returned. More than 23,000 have not.

That gap defines the moment.

There is no shortage of debate about what the ballot questions mean. Residents have argued over election timing, governance and the future direction of the city. Those disagreements are visible in meetings, online, and across neighborhoods. They reflect a community engaged in the substance of its choices.

What is less visible is participation.

An all-mail election removes the need to stand in line or find time on a single day. It gives voters a window of weeks. It places the ballot in the home. It simplifies the act of voting to a decision, a signature and a return envelope.

And yet, with one week remaining, most eligible voters have not returned their ballots.

That is the fact that matters.

This referendum includes a question that goes directly to turnout itself — whether to move city elections from April to November, when proponents say participation would be higher. The argument for that change rests on a premise: that more people should take part in deciding the city’s direction.

The irony is plain. A referendum aimed in part at addressing low turnout may itself be decided by a small share of the electorate.

That outcome would not reflect a lack of opportunity. Ballots have been mailed. Time has been provided. The process is clear. The remaining question is participation.

Voting is a responsibility.

Residents may vote yes on all eight questions. They may vote no on all eight. They may split their ballot. Those choices are the substance of democratic decision-making. But the act of voting precedes all of them.

A ballot not returned removes a voice from the outcome. It leaves decisions to those who do participate. In a referendum where each question is decided by a simple majority, participation is the process.

There is still time.

Most ballots that have not been returned are likely still in voters’ homes — they were mailed on March 19. Returning them requires only a completed signature and a timely submission. Ballots must be received, not merely postmarked, by April 21. There is no curing process for missing signatures or incomplete information, and in-person drop-off is limited to a single location at the Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections office in Doral. Voters whose ballots were lost or not delivered may request replacements, but time is now the defining constraint.

Ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 21. That deadline is fixed. The number of ballots outstanding is large. What happens between now and then will determine not only turnout, but the legitimacy of the result.

The city has placed the questions before its voters. The voters must now answer.

Return your ballot.