Do You Do It?

Hi Everyone,

This great country of ours is based on the ability of the citizens to vote in elections. We have fought a lot of foreign wars to give numerous countries their own ability to have democracies. Voting in elections is essential to our way of life. So my question of the day is ....... do you do it? I mean, do you vote? I'm pretty sure that the majority of you will answer yes. But do you really?

Having worked for the board of elections for the past 12 years, I have noticed something very peculiar. It seems that the majority of voters believe that the most important election in which we need to vote is for the president of the United States. Maybe that is because the presidential race gets the most amount of tv coverage and of course tv ads. Did you know that the highest percentage of eligible voters, vote during the presidential elections? Do you know which election day has the lowest voter turn out? The answer is local elections in an off year, when there is no presidential election being held. When you think about it, which election is actually more relevant to where you live? The mindset of voters ought be that local elections should be as important as presidential elections. But unfortunately it is very disappointing to see very low voter turnout during local elections in an off year.

This year is going to be a bit different here in New York State. Not including school budget/board elections, there will be 4 election days. The first is in April for the republican primary, the second will be held in June for the congressional primary, (this is a new one), the third will be in September for the NYS legislature, local government and the presidential primaries and the fourth one is the general elections in November. So please remember to vote on all election days.

Now for my common sense solution to the low turnout for non-presidential elections. Change all election days from Tuesdays to Saturdays. The marjority of voters have Saturdays off and that I believe, will increase the number of voters. Won't know if that would happen until they change the day. I guess we'll have to wait and see about that.

In addition, if you don't vote. you have no right to bitch and/or complain. You didn't even make an attempt to try to make a difference. Yes I know that a lot of people are fed up with our policitians on both sides, but that should not distract you from voting. It is your civic duty to vote. So please vote on every election day!

Til next week.

Peter