Of potholes, trash collection, education & elections

By RON MOORE
Guest Columnist

Well, it is that time in the four-year cycle when we once again elect our city officials here in Hamilton County.

This is the election, the primary election that will select those who will run on either a Republican or Democrat ticket in the general election in the fall, that most of the voters tend to ignore and pay very little attention to the outcome.

Now, there are those who are very passionate about the election and will dig in and learn about the candidates who are running, make decisions based on information at hand, and vote their preference. That said, it is easy to understand why we treat this primary election with little regard. Afterall, you get to choose in fall either an R or a D to fill the office, right? Well, only in the cases where there is a contested race.

Most local races are really decided in May because there is no opponent for the other party. So, the May Primary is the ONLY election that counts. Still, last election in 2019 only drew less than 12 percent of the registered voters.

I think I understand why. Voters are not bombarded by television and radio about those who are running. They are too busy to get involved otherwise to understand the candidates. I get it; we are all very busy in our lives trying to eke out a living to provide for our families. I have been told that it really does not matter anyway.

Let’s explore that for a minute.

The people who are elected by us will sit on the city councils, become mayor and administrate our cities, and determine how much money is needed to run cities, and Clerk and Clerk-Treasurer will manage the city records and city finances, playing a key role in city processes.

These elected officials of our cities will oversee maintaining streets, water and sewer, parks and recreation, public safety, fire protection, and the education of children.

They will be responsible for setting public policy that determines the tone and speed of growth.

They will also be responsible for setting tax rates, optimizing public finance for long-term strategies that will keep taxes low while meeting the growth and maintenance needs of our cities.

They will drive the culture and mind set of the city while in office.

So, there you are. In a simple statement, these are the people empowered to make decisions that impact our daily lives. Yes, potholes, trash collection, and education – among many other daily events.

Do you ever wonder why winners of elections declare, “they have a majority support” while the losers exclaimed, “we need to get out more vote”? With only 12 percent turnout, you only get those voters who are passionate about a particular side. In the case of 12 percent, you get one side with 6.3 percent of the vote; the other side gets 5.7 percent. These are two competing factions with differing points of view. However, the game is winner takes all. So those of us who didn’t vote, well, we conceded our voting power to the winner. Thus, we became governed by a winner with only 6-plus percent of the vote.

Yet, we still ignore these elections and fail to do any research on the candidates, even though many of them come to our front door and offer information about themselves, invite our questions, look you in the eye and personally ask for our support. We will do our “patriotic” duty and vote for President and Senator. Every four years, they ask for our support, too. So, we do it even though they never knocked on our door.

I understand that we are just too busy to be concerned about the local elections. So, those of us who do not vote for whatever reason and are willing to allow the voice of the people to be silent. This will open the door for the rule of a faction, elected by 6 percent of the voters, to dominate the rule of law over all of us.

Therefore, if you have potholes in your street and voted for president of the USA but not in the local election, call POTUS to fix you potholes; I’m sure he will fix it within a few days. If your trash is not collected, call you Senator; I am sure he will take care of it right away. If that sounds absurd, then get out and vote in this primary.

About education … well, the federal and state government already has that under control, right?