Re: Reflections on an election

[Dan Schmidt <schmidt6@Turbonet.com>]

John, I think part of why we have a 21% turnout has to do with the number
used for the denominator. We used the voter rolls to phone campaign off for
the pool bond issue and it was not uncommon to get one out of twenty
responses,i.e. answering machine or answer. There were lots of people on
the lists who didn't live here anymore. And, of course, there's the 10%
rule....ten percent show up, do the work, clean up. I really believe that
Moscow has a much bigger percentage of people who show up than most places.
Maybe more like 20-30 percent. Dan Schmidt

 At 09:16 AM 11/5/99 -0800, you wrote:
>The community of Moscow held an election that will provide the leadership
>for the community for the next several years.  Twenty one percent of
>registered voters turned out and expressed their opinions by casting
>ballots.  It is a sad note that in today's community, twenty one percent of
>registered voters is considered a good turnout.
>
>Why is twenty one percent considered good?  Where are all those who speak
>out on issues?  Should we as a community address the need to get more of our
>populace involved in the initial decision making process?
>
>Certainly it can be said that voting today is inconvenient.  The fair
>grounds, as a polling place, is hard to get to, hard to park at, and you
>never know who your going to have to talk to there.  Is it just a matter of
>convenience, or is there a more fundamental reason why four out of every
>five residents is willing to let someone dictate the future to them?
>
>Perhaps the time has come, in this fast paced electronic age, to abandon the
>polling place in favor of a different means of casting ballots.  Should we
>look to our elected leaders to try and fashion a more convenient method of
>voting, knowing that they were elected by such few numbers?
>
>John
>
>John and Laurie Danahy
>jdanahy@turbonet.com
>
>