We are now just under a week before Election Day. Voters will be choosing a president, governor, members of Congress and many local offices. In Indiana, there are school board elections.
Here in the Fishers area, all registered voters residing in Fall Creek, Delaware and Wayne townships are eligible to vote in the Hamilton Southeastern (HSE) School Board election. The city of Fishers takes up large parts of Fall Creek and Delaware townships.
I won’t comment on the state of the various campaigns. There have been some good, solid discussions and some not so good. But this election will have a major impact on the school age children attending public schools in those three townships.
I have evolved a bit on how I personally evaluate candidates for my local school board. For years, I looked at the positions taken by each of the candidates. That is still a factor, but it has been trumped by another consideration for me.
I explained this as part of my hour-long video discussion with Cameron Geesaman recorded in early September. All voters need to evaluate candidates on their ability to make good decisions as situations change.
For example, I spent time with all current members of the HSE Board and never thought to ask any of them how they would handle a pandemic. No one could foresee that. The ability of each board member to evaluate the situation before them and make good decisions is key for me.
If you do not think your vote counts, allow me to provide just one fact for you. In 2016, Mike Bottorff defeated Howard Stevenson by 41 votes, about one-tenth of 1 percent (0.01 percent) of all votes cast in the Fall Creek Township at-large election. All votes counted in that race. Mr. Bottorff resigned from the board in May 2019 and board members chose Clint Wilson to fill out the remainder of the term.
A couple of reminders: If you vote a straight party ticket, keep going … you will find the at-large Hamilton County Council election, then the school board candidates will be before you. Also, this is an at-large school board election, so all voters may choose one candidate for each of the three townships.
Please allow me to once again compliment and thank Izzy and Casey Alexander, Fishers High School students who offered to record podcast interviews with all 11 candidates for school board. As of early Monday afternoon, Oct. 26, I have set a podcasting record. Combining the number of listens for all candidates, the count exceeded 2,700. That means at least 2,700 people listened to most or all of a candidate podcast.
I see that people in Hamilton County, Indiana, and many parts of the nation are voting early, enduring long lines and long wait times to cast their ballots. It is clear that Americans love democracy.
If you have not yet voted and want to know more about our local HSE School Board candidates, I have a handy listing below of the candidate podcasts with links.
Remember, our local school board election is of great importance to school-age children in all three townships and the health of our school system is key to the health of our community as a whole. Vote in the school board election!
Fall Creek Township
Delaware Township
Wayne Township