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Where Are the Voters?
Posted 6-1-2005
Every day, we hear of the public's dissatisfaction with paying property
taxes. The regressive levying of property taxes is the primary method of
generating operating revenue for municipal governments, county governments,
and the 500 school districts in Pennsylvania. In odd numbered years,
officeholders from those taxing bodies are on the ballot for voters to
either express their support or express a lack of support. Yet, this year
was no different than others in recent memory; only 16.7% of eligible voters
in Westmoreland County bothered to vote.
I know the profile of local
and school board elections isn't as high as federal offices or a race for
governor. But as far as having an impact on a family's pocketbook, because
of our archaic tax system, these elections are very important. While the
county races on the ballot offered little in the way of competitive races
(only Democratic jury commissioner was contested), township supervisors,
mayors, and council members from every municipality were on the ballot. And,
each of the county's 17 school districts had contested races for school
director. In some of the municipalities where hotly contested mayoral or
council races took place, turnout may have topped 20% in a few precincts;
but, in those same municipalities, other precincts turned out as low as 10%.
So, what do we make of this
phenomenon? If it happened only once, it could be considered a fluke, an
anomaly that was affected by weather or other circumstances. But, this
turnout in the teens has been happening too often in the last decade to be
considered a fluke. Neither of the two major parties appears to be able to
produce turnout when selecting their nominees for the general election in
November. In democratic strongholds like New Kensington and Monessen, a few
precincts were above 20%, but many in the teens and the low end of the teens
at that. In Murrysville, a republican stronghold, the highest precinct
turnout was 17.38%.
Should the interpretation of
this kind of voter interest in municipal or school board elections be that
voters are happy with how things are? Therefore, they are staying home on
election day as a sign of tacit approval? I don't know. But just six months
ago, turnout was 65%, and people waited in lines sometimes for an hour to
cast their vote for president. Where is the disconnect for voters? Is it the
level of advertising? There was little in the way of advertising short of
signs, some newspapers advertisements, and a handful of direct mail pieces.
News coverage was minimal. So perhaps unless candidates spend large amounts
of money to advertise on television or send out numerous direct mail pieces,
potential voters are not tuning in?
I know one thing for certain,
I don't have the answers. I welcome your views as to why people stay away
from municipal and school board elections in such large numbers. Maybe you
are one of those voters who choose not to vote in elections in odd numbered
years, please
let me know your reasons. We spend thousands of
public dollars to stage elections whether the turnout is high or low, so I
am curious as to why there is so little participation in elections like the
one we just had.
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