Every April, Jefferson County holds a big event where everyone is invited, but only about 15 of every 100 people on the guest list come.
And that’s in a good year. Sometimes, as few as eight out of 100 show up. Maybe it’s raining, or maybe Aunt Agatha’s tooth is hurting, or maybe there’s a “Jeopardy” marathon for all 13 hours the event is scheduled, from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Planners of the big day get pretty bummed by the apathy of all those who just keep staying away, no matter what’s on the menu.
I’m talking about the General Municipal Election, set by state law for the first Tuesday in April, unless that falls on April 1, and then it’s the second Tuesday.
This year, the election will be held April 3. Jefferson County registered voters – currently numbering 140,292 citizens 18 and older – are welcome to participate.
The Leader prides itself on being super local – or hyper-local as the media world terms it – and this particular election is just our cup of tea. It’s where voters choose their neighbors to serve on city councils and school boards; to sit on fire, ambulance, water and sewer boards; and to make policy decisions for countywide entities like Jefferson College, the Health Department and 911 Dispatch.
This time around, the ballot offers contested races for 25 government entities across the county and eight money measures, one of which covers all of the unincorporated county (the property tax proposal for the Sheriff’s Office).
Important decisions will be made, as they are every April, but you would never guess that by the typically low number of people who show up at the polls.
Jefferson County Clerk Randy Holman is predicting 15 percent turnout and that’s a pretty good bet. Last April, turnout was 15.37 percent, and the year before it was 14.58 percent. Whoo-hoo, we hit 16 percent in 2015, but only 10 percent in 2013, and as low as 8 percent in 2012.
People, I know we can do better than this.
This is one of those cases where a business puts its money where its ink is. Elections editor Steve Taylor puts in extra time every March to produce a two-issue Voters Guide that offers surveys from candidates in contested races the first week and a preview of the issues in week two. The idea is to give citizens the information they need to decide which circles to fill in.
The guide is free for candidates, government entities and readers, but it’s not free to the Leader. We must cover the costs for staff time, and the printing and mailing costs for the extra pages. Not to break a sweat in patting our collective backs, but this is one company’s contribution to democracy.
Candidates were profiled in the March 22 paper and stories on issues in your neck of the woods are included this week. If you end up missing out on either installment – maybe Aunt Agatha threw last week’s newspaper away – you can go to our website, myleaderpaper.com, to review the information.
Americans should not take their right and responsibility to vote for granted. Others in the world are not so blessed.
Consider the Afghanistan national election of 2014, the first democratic transfer of power in that country’s history. The Taliban warned that people who dared to vote might be killed at the polls, and then backed it up with a pre-election bombing that killed police and campaign workers.
Voters defied the threats with a 58 percent turnout on Election Day, lining up outdoors in full view of potential attackers. There were so many more voters than expected that some polling places ran out of ballots.
The Trump phenomenon (most likely) was behind Jefferson County’s big voter turnout in November 2016. We hit 74 percent – the best turnout of this century! – up from 67 percent in the 2012 general election, when we also chose a president.
If only that passion and interest filtered down to our local decisions in April. Those choices have great impact on our daily lives. The people we elect will choose our trash providers, decide the hours our libraries are open, make the rules for when our missing dogs are euthanized, decide which curriculum our kids study and set our sewer and water rates, among a myriad of issues that affect our quality of life.
We should take the infiltration of Russian influence in our national elections seriously and work to protect our system from tampering. But apathy, in general, is an even bigger threat.
Take some time before April 3 to find out who and what there will be for you to vote on, and then, take some time to cast a ballot.
It’s a small way to do your part as a citizen. Once you’ve done it, you can give yourself a pat on the back.
