I know voting can be a giant pain in the butt. OK. No, I don’t. I was trying to sound sympathetic there, but no, voting isn’t a giant pain in the butt. This isn’t Afghanistan or something, where you vote and you might die. Voting in the U.S. is easier than finding an open checkout lane at Walmart, yet the people who will stand in a line 15 people deep to buy one Kit Kat will eschew voting because it’s too hard, even though you can vote early and pretty much walk right up to a voting booth. In the grand scheme of hard work, it’s closer to working an ATM than digging a ditch.
Dallas recently had an election to decide who would be mayor. Mayor of a whole city, a fairly big city, a city looking at a budget shortfall and an aging infrastructure that is home to some pretty awesome stuff but is also home to some pretty bad stuff that should probably get fixed. Someone should really have a plan for that. You know who usually has a plan for that? The mayor.
So voting for mayor is kind of a big deal. Yet, turnout was low. Turnout was low, and now there’s a runoff where turnout will probably be even lower. And this runoff? It’s going to cost the city more than $1.28 million to throw. And you know what? Dallas is going to throw a runoff, and next to nobody will come. But you know who will complain about virtually everything? Everyone. Even the people who didn’t vote. Yes, they pay taxes so they’ll say they should still get to complain, but let’s think about how really effed up that statement is, too. Taxation without representation was what launched this whole country anyway. People are still walking around D.C. with teabags stapled to their tricorn hats to remind us of this, among other things. Yet, people are perfectly willing to get taxed, and/or watch the tax money they pay get spent, without actually trying to have a say in who spends it, or how it’s spent.
So June 18 will roll around, and five bucks and an unopened Valpak sitting on my ottoman says turnout will still be low, even though it’s deciding who will be mayor of a fairly big city, a city looking at a budget shortfall and an aging infrastructure that is home to some pretty awesome stuff but is also home to some pretty bad stuff that should probably get fixed.
Rant over. Probably.
13 comments
(Raises hand) I voted.
Well said, Bethany. Please repeat at school board election time too.
“You know who usually has a plan for that? The mayor.”
Sorry, no, not in our city manager form of government. Part of the reason that we have low turnout is because the Dallas mayor has limited power, and does not run the day-to-day business for the city. Isn’t Mike Rawlings saying he’s going to spend 30% of his time on poaching corporate HQs? Do you think RL Thorton or Erik Jonsson had time for that?
Since the advent of the 14-1 council structure, mayors in Dallas are at-large city councilors with a bully pulpit. Sadly, the mayors who have effectively wielded that bully pulpit in recent years have failed to focus on all of that broken “bad stuff.”
Instead, they focused on the agendas of real estate and construction interests. But, hey, we have a great basketball arena and neat- fake suspension bridge, and that’s helping our schools and quality of life, right? I’ll be thinking about this when I’m boating on the new lakes in Trinity Park.
So get out there and vote in the next couple weeks. And when you’re done, think about how we can end the city manager and 14-1 form of government, which been has be degrading the quality of life in our city.
@Same Old Same Old: you write that “Part of the reason that we have low turnout is because the Dallas mayor has limited power, and does not run the day-to-day business for the city.”
Sorry, the Dallas council-manager form of government has nothing to do with low voter turnout. Houston has a strong mayor form of government, and the election to replace mayor Bill White featured a lesbian, who won. One might think she’d have engendered passion on all sides, but no. A puny 16% of registered voters bothered to show up.
New York City has a VERY strong mayor system, yet election results from a half-century ago look like misprints today. In 1953, 93% of registered New Yorkers voted in the mayoral election. By 2005, only 27% of the city’s registered voters cast their ballots, and it has dropped since then.
We don’t vote because we don’t give a damn about democracy in our busy lives, or understand civics to save our souls.
Actually we don’t vote because there’s not a dime’s difference among (now between) the mayoral candidates and none of them are addressing issues that voters really care about. And Dallas has always had a manager-council form of government — it didn’t start with the advent of the 14-1 method of selecting council members.
This post is what I have been hoping to see, someone else as enraged as I have been. I have posted of FB day after day about voting.. and to no avail for the most part. 11% of registered voters VOTED, that is disgraceful. You can vote by mail, you can vote early, you can vote from 7 am to 7 pm on Voting day. Some spend more time on getting thier car washed or in line at Starbucks (not picking on Starbucks)
if you didn’t vote in the primary you cannot vote in the runoff sorry for those that have time on June 18.
I am really amazed that we don’t have higher voter registration than we do but then even the registered voters don’t VOTE.
We have a fabulous city and lots of problems to go with it. Public service is a thankless job but we really need to be a part of the process and select our leaders based on what we believe they can do. We need to do our homework and find out what each candidate can do to make our city better. VOTE on JUNE 18th. Please
yvonne darling:
Wrong……anyone that can vote is eligible to vote in the runoff.
everyone:
There is a push by the Obama Admin pushing through all states, even Texas! golly, to move all elections to November…….stick with me, so all elections will be held on one day every year. Brilliant, they actually want people to vote.
@Jackson – So lesbians can only win when there is low voter turnout? Or we all should worry because if not enough of us vote, we’ll end up with a lesbian mayor?
I’m confused as to what you were trying to say. You make it sound as if the worst-case scenario of low voter turnout is electing lesbians.
Without sounding like a censor, someone really needs to consider editing Yvonne’s post to show that her You can’t vote statement is so wrong.
Less than 12% of registered voters came out on May 14th. The expected turnout for June 18th is less than 10%.
Since D targets a younger cooler crowd which by coincidence could not give a damn about voting (seniors outnumber us 2 to 1), maybe this and other posts will increase the turnout.
@Bethany and Jackson – Bravo (slow clap).
@Sammy, your understanding of what I wrote is actually confusing to me. I certainly didn’t suggest that a “worst-case scenario of low voter turnout is electing lesbians.” Good grief. As little as I know about H Town, she was a fine candidate, and worthy of winning. But I’ll try and spell it out more slowly:
The mayor’s race in Houston to replace Bill White got a ton of media coverage (locally, statewide, even nationally) largely because of one candidate in particular, and yet it STILL didn’t generate a decent turnout among voters. That was the breadth and width of my point.
@david. and big Tex.. I apologize and stand corrected.. lost my mind. thinking of elections where you vote in republican primary and then you cannot vote in the Democratic gener.. I will slap myself 12 times.. I usually check before I spew.. sorry .. david and Big Tex and anyone else I look stupid to..
If you have ever driven a voter to the polls who came from another country, you might truly understand that the right to vote is a gift denied to so many and that voting is important – regardless of your particular gripe about how our city is run.