Inspire, Spring 2012

SCOTT BORLING ’96 CITY CLERK | KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN Why do more people vote during presidential election years? Many people believe it’s more important to cast their votes for president of the United States than for state and local offices. In Kalamazoo, four people cast presidential votes for every person who votes in local elections. Yet I would argue that, unless you are a federal employee or in the military, the president makes very few decisions that affect your day-to-day life when compared to the decisions made by your state representative, city council member, or local school board trustees. How much will you pay for your driver’s license? How many police officers patrol your town? Should a new high school be built? Should funding for public universities be cut? Should your city offer health benefits to domestic partners of city employees? Should the state collect income tax on people’s pensions (some states don’t)? These questions will be answered by state and local officials, not the president, Congress, or the thousands of bureaucrats working for federal agencies. Hundreds of organizations, besides the political parties, will be encouraging you to vote in the November election. Those energetic efforts will disappear, for the most part, after November. Why should we take a closer look at local races? One benefit of relatively quiet local races is the opportunity it affords ordinary citizens to get involved. Most of us don’t have the political connections, fundraising savvy, public speaking, and media relations skills to run for federal or even state office. Many of us don’t have the appetite for partisan politics. Local offices are more attainable, and there are opportunities to become involved without having to run for election. In many places, the members of local planning commissions, zoning boards, and park committees are appointed, not elected. Participating on these boards, committees, and commissions allows you to serve your community while you gain experience and develop connections that may lead you to run for elected office. When voting, I often see local issues and candidates I don’t know much about, which causes me to leave a lot of issues blank. Is that common? “Voter fall-off” is a well-researched and established fact. People tend to stop voting part of the way through a long ballot. The office at the top of the ballot receives the most votes, and each office after that will “lose” votes. Local offices tend to be at the bottom of the ballot, so they receive the fewest votes. One theory is “voter fatigue”; perhaps people just get tired of voting. Another theory is that people don’t want to vote for an unknown candidate, and local candidates (especially from small cities, towns, townships, and villages) are the least covered by the media and the least likely to have well-run campaigns with websites, well-articulated platforms, etc. Residents of large and medium cities can learn about local candidates and issues in the media where those stories are played out. If you live in a small town, you almost have to attend a city council or school board meeting to learn about the candidates and issues. You may contact Scott at borlings@kalamazoocity.org . “One benefit of relatively quiet local races is the opportunity it affords ordinary citizens to get involved.” CEDARVILLE UNIVERSITY 11