By Seth Boyes,
My very first editor moderated live candidate forums each and every election cycle, and he’d always end them by thanking the candidates and telling the public to “vote early, and vote often.” From what little research I’ve done, it’s a bit unclear who exactly coined that phrase but, despite the historical ties to political corruption in Chicago, my old editor used those words with a more humorous tone aimed at encouraging the community to actually get out and vote.
And folks should.
Here in Decorah, we’ve got another election coming up for an at-large city council seat on Dec. 10, and it’d be a shame to overlook it — which I imagine could be easy for some, coming just five weeks after the general election wrapped up.
I won’t tell you who to vote for. That’s your decision. But I will tell you to vote and to vote locally.
I don’t think it’s any secret that voter turnout is typically higher during a presidential year. And that’s great, but I don’t think there’s much reason participation in local elections should be far behind that mark.
We often put a lot of emotional stock at the top of the ticket, but presidential races aren’t the only ones that matter. We typically don’t look to the White House for main street developments, road repairs or public park projects — though the feds can be involved sometimes, its local faces and names that are making sure those things gets done.
Yet, for some reason, it’s the local elections that seem to have somehow earned the voting public’s apathy.
I browsed our archives this week, and did a couple spot checks. Archives of the Decorah Journal from October of 2019 said voter turnout in Winneshiek County was typically around 80 percent for general elections, but only 15-20 percent for city elections — and it was only 5 percent for school elections, though the state of Iowa has since made changes aimed at increasing that number by holding school and city elections on the same day.
The month after those stats were published, there happened to be a contested race for an at-large seat on the Decorah City Council. About 1,550 people cast votes in that election — Decorah’s population was around 7,500 at that time. That said, we know not everyone’s a registered voter. So the turnout for that 2019 race probably exceeded the 20 percent threshold but, at the same time, cracking a statistic that’s about as close to 0 percent as the general elections are to 100 percent probably shouldn’t be our goal.
And I say that because ranting and railing against what this lawmaker or that administration is doing in D.C. will only get us so far.
Local decisions really do matter.
Don’t get me wrong, we should indeed pay attention to what’s going on in the nation’s capitol and voice our opinions on such things, but the people whom we elect locally are the people with whom we can — ideally — create the most effective government.
U.S. Sen. John Q. Public isn’t likely to stand in the grocery store check-out line with you on a Tuesday night. You’re probably not going to bump into Congresswoman Jane Doe while dropping your kids off at school Thursday morning. You’re much more likely to run into a council person, a school board member or a county supervisor on any given weekday.
And it’s that sort of constant community contact which allows local elected officials to govern well — it depends on us.
So it stands to reason we should care a good deal about voting in local elections. And if most regions in our county can top 80 percent voter participation during a national election, surely we’re capable of putting that same kind of effort behind the election of our officials who live in our very own communities.
Again, I won’t tell you how to vote — it’s not my place. But whatever you do, don’t stay home when you’ve got a chance for your voice to be heard at the local level.
Agree with Seth? Think he’s got it completely backwards or he’s missed the point entirely? Let your voice be heard. Letters to the editor may be emailed to editor@decorahleader.com or dropped off at 110 Washington St. Suite 4 in Decorah.
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