We recently mentioned the low voter turnout for the primaries in Pinellas and Hillsborough, and suggested that you just don’t care about picking a leader. But was that a fair statement?
Creative Loafing’s Wayne Garcia weighed in on the sorry turnout for voting in the primaries, calling it “crappy.” He says the “circumstances” include (my highlights):
few good choices on the ballot in either county. And no exciting races. And little to no television coverage of the campaigns. And a presidential battle that is sucking all of the oxygen out of the political-attention room.
Comments you left here on Sticks of Fire support those conclusions:
So basically, voter turnout was crappy because getting involved is a big pain in the ass.
Nothing about electing a leader is thrilling. But it is important. These people we are electing are in charge of the day-to-day decisions surrounding your home, your job (assuming a brick & mortar operation), the bars and restaurants you frequent, and retail stores where you buy supplies, and more. In addition, they have a direct effect on the parks you use, the roads you drive, safety in your neighborhood, and on and on and on.
Even the School Board affects each of us, from the number of busses that are on the road to the amount of your tax money being spent. Not to mention quality of education given your employees, coworkers, friends, business partners, and the young girl taking your order at McDonald’s.
Of course this stuff is not very glamorous or exciting. But neither is shopping for a mortgage, or insurance, or a mechanic. Neither is driving during rush hour. Neither is going through the honey-do list. Neither is preparing for a hurricane. Yet those things are important enough that you should spend more time on it than you would like. If you did a half-ass job at any of them, your quality of life will decline. It’s called paying the rent.
So what if you did care? If everyone were concerned with electing real leaders, I believe you would see a difference in the above-mentioned “circumstances.”
So, what can we do to get more folks to pay better attention? What can I do to convince you to become involved? Seriously, I want ideas.
Chuck
1 year ago
“What can I do to convince you to become involved?”
Run. For anything.
John
1 year ago
I want to point out another drawback from the campaigns and why turnout was crappy:
More attempts at fundraising and little attempts at trying to encourage people to turn out (no hyping of any one candidate) without counting third-party smears.
I mean, case in point: Fl-09. John Dicks had $300,000 to his name and I didn’t see a dime of it spent on commercials, on mailers, on anything… And I’m in the district. But then again, the fact he wasn’t an exciting character – it wasn’t going to matter what he spent.
Same thing with Max Linn in FL-10: Multimillionaire as is, he was paying for high priced TV ads from what i heard but he’s got a crazy reputation as is. There were rumors he had earned the ire of the Obama campaign by presenting himself and Barack in campaign photos together (Obama never endorsed him).
Weak candidates, weak effort, people being tired of the smears (unless it’s the presidential race) and such… Yeah, that helps kill turnout. That and it being a hot and muggy Tuesday in the dead of Summer when people are focusing on anything but Politics (thank you, Florida State Legislature!)
Clyde
1 year ago
May I suggest that there is a connection between voter turnout and the Tampa Bay disapora? Don’t expect anything to change until citizens start paying attention because they understand it’s critically important to their lives. Local government has the most direct impact on us, but most people don’t get it. Don’t expect it to change.
dave
1 year ago
A few ideas off the top of my head-
1.Voting registration drives in the political off-season. During the heat of a political season, wary citizens are afraid of being bamboozled and would rather just not vote. Non-partisan door to door education about how to register and how/where to vote will increase the number of people registered to vote. Handouts to volunteers will help explain why cynicism (“it doesn’t matter who wins”) and apathy (“i don’t pay attention to politics”) damage the American philosophy of political engagement.
2.Voting parties – regular get-togethers at the polling place to remind and reinforce people of the locations they will visit when they vote. At these get-togethers non-partisan information is made available reminding people of voting days and the offices being voted on, and the responsibilities of people in these offices.
3.Monthly meetings at branch libraries with someone to explain “civic literacy” – where to vote, how to vote, why to vote, what gets voted on, the responsibilities of officeholders.
4.Voting holidays would help. Civic-minded businesses need to close for the day. It’s not just they need to allow their employees time to vote, it’s that an aura of celebration and fun needs to surround voting days. Newspapers, tv stations, blogs can provide free advertising to businesses with the gumption to close to help celebrate voting day.
5.Having a city/region you can take pride in increases public investment in what happens locally.
tiny...
1 year ago
Waterboarding for non-voters.
Free churros at polling stations.
seriously, voting on weekends, fri sat & sun.
Dave Dragon
1 year ago
It’s all become too busy and disjointed with the melee of election fisticuffs at the federal level. It’s hard to focus on local issues when they get no local coverage.
Dave
Pam
1 year ago
I always vote no matter how small the election. As a child, my parents took me in the voting booth with them to be a part of the process. Probably why it’s so important to me now. I used to take my step kids and neighborhood kids with me. I would explain it’s our civic duty and how lucky we were to live in a country where we have the right to vote then I’d take them to McDonalds for milkshakes just to make it fun. They all vote now as adults. One of them recently told me the experience took away the fear of unknown.
I worked at a company a few years ago that gave employees 2 hours off on Election Day to vote. Your choice of when. It created an urgency to vote amongst all of us. Even those that had not previously voted and the apathetic caught the fever and voted. We shamed those that didn’t!! My current employer encourages us to vote but no time off to do it. So easy to vote these days. If you live in Hernando Co and work in Tampa utilize mail in ballots or early voting.
The comedian Christian Finnegan was at the Improv in Ybor a couple of months ago. He said Tampa has the worst case of “don’t give a damn” of anywhere he’s ever been. He wasn’t making a joke. It was his observation. What he did was make me feel shameful because he is right. I think when people feel powerless they can make change happen, they don’t try. You have the current school board and Hills. County Commission steamrolling over the citizens and ignoring their wishes. After a while people just say f*#k it.
They SHOULD say f*#k it I’m gonna vote the bastards out. Start with Brian Blair!!!!!!!
Peter Radizeski
1 year ago
It is very easy to sit here and blame the crappy candidates, but it is your duty to vote. Period. You don’t get to bitch about the problems if you don’t participate in the process.
I don’t like many of the County Cronies, but I get out to vote. Unfortunately, the people who like folks like Blair showed up and those that didn’t, did not. Go figure!
And you get more than one day to vote. The library had voting all week! But then you probably don’t visit the library either if you don’t vote. Lazy and Stupid is no way to go through Life.
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