Some of you love to stand in line on election day, not just to vote, but to talk to your neighbors. I saw this quite a bit when I worked elections and agree it's a good chance to catch up with people you know and like. If you have a sweet tooth, it's even better because there are numerous bake sales. Sometimes, you get a chance to meet candidates or other elected officials who are supporting them. I hate standing in line. I'm pretty much a miserable bastard and the only people who smile at me are those who don't know me. I like the convenience of mail-in ballots (MIBs). I'm far from alone. In this year's municipal primary, 18,426 people voted by mail in NorCo. That's almost half of the total 40,342 votes cast. But has the MIB option really helped turnout? Has it made elections more inclusive? If you look at this year's anemic turnout, I'd say no.
This year, we had contested primaries for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, County Executive, Magisterial District Judge, Bethlehem Mayor, Bethlehem City Council and Easton City Council. Total turnout was an embarrassing 17.7%, even though these elected officials have much more of an impact on our daily lives than the President. You can't call Trump if your street has not been plowed.
It was just as bad in the municipal primary four years ago. Turnout in that race was 20.87%, just slightly higher than on Tuesday. In the '23 municipal primary, it was just 19.23%.
I've seen the argument that MIBs increase voter turnout, and that may be true in Presidential and Congressional races. But in municipal races, it has failed to make a difference.
I believe the main reason for this apathy is that most voters simply are unfamiliar with the candidates because local news media is pretty much a thing of the past. While there are noble ventures by public media, Victor Martinez' La Mega 101.7 FM (gives local news and insights to Spanish-speaking listeners) and sources like Armchair Lehigh Valley Molovinsky on Allentown or even me, but we reach far too few people.
My uninformed opinion has always been that people who need to work two or three jobs have enough trouble putting food on the table than worry about who represents them. As a result, nobody does.
What's your take?
37 comments:
When people are fat dumb and happy they stay home. The idiotic leadership and cuts coming from Washington hasn't hit the average homeowner and wage earner yet but when it does you will see voter turnout like never before in the history of this great nation. Voters don't realize how important these local elections are to them and they don't take the time to research their local candidates qualifications. It's the local people we elect that impact our services on a local level that we take for granted. Schools, roads, sewage, water, police, magistrates, traffic control, jails, zoning, warehouses, municipal transportation, airport, buses, potholes, etc. it's very costly to run local campaigns and the media is very poor in covering local elections because it is expensive for them to do so. When things don't go quite right you'll hear them scream. Until then, voter turnout will be low.
I agree with your take, Bernie. I am told that years ago, there was a group of concerned citizens in the Pen Argyl area that sponsored candidate debates, in order to expose them to the voters. I ran for election a few years back, and a rep for the League of Women Voters was very lax in the receipt of my responses for their voter directory. As a result my info was not listed. It's tough to get your platform out there if there is no forum - and yes, as a voter it can seem like a crap shoot when a ballot arrives and you don't know 80% of the candidates. I like you am a mean old bastard, and far prefer using MIB's and bypassing the hassle and acting like it is great to see people at the polls. Screw that. Baked goods sound awesome but I never saw that at my polling place.
It’s clearly because Lamont McClure wasn’t on the ballot. Turnout was up in ‘17 before mail ins were a thing and then again in ‘21. I think that’s your explanation. Guess we will find out next Spring.
I believe poor voter turnouts are now because a growing number of citizens are fed-up with sneaky, do-nothing elected officials. Politicians all talk a good game around election time but then go off and do nothing of substance that will improve anyone but the politician’s daily lives.
WAY too many self-serving, ladder climbing, phonies in government these days. This is particularly true at the state and federal levels. Voters turn out better in Presidential Election years because the stakes are much higher.
Although a topic for another time, we now see there is really only ONE political party in America today. That party is those incumbents who are already in office. Doesn’t matter if Democrats or Republican, they both work together to help each other remain in office. To maintain the status quo, to keep the money flowing, etc. The needs of regular citizens sit in the back seat.
Voting in a Presidential Election gives us what we believe to be the best chance to shake things up in a bigger way. We take greater effort to participate in the election process then.
i don’t know about increading participation, but i love mibs because it gives me a chance to be informed about everyone running. in the past — and to my embarrassment — i had only a vague understanding of some of the candidates and offices. this was especially true in the case of judges. the mib hasbincreased my awareness of who is running and for which offices. as a result, i am able to look more deeply into the candidates (instead of just relying on endorsements) and, i hope, am a better informed voter.
Republican turnout Tuesday was particularly pitiful.. MAGA only votes when Trump is on the ballot so the Dems will sweep 2025 and 26.
Not voting is an American tradition. You blame apathy. Maybe. It could also be satisfaction. People think things are good and they're willing to let others decide. I might be resignation to the stinking pile that is, and has always been our government. Some take the red pill. Some take the blue pill. Some take a white pill (pray). Some take a black pill (actively hope it all falls apart). I like when people don't vote, for whatever reason they choose. It's quintessentially American.
I am a termed a super voter and am always angered by those who make excuses for not voting. Most Americans are apathetic and only vote when they feel like it. Couple that with ignorance — I spoke with one person who, after voting, said “I only vote for women.” We are in the “Information Age,” yet people don’t research and feel that social media and 30-second ads provide all the necessary information. Rome is burning, but the majority is updating their status, rather than grabbing a hose.
I ran into this indifference a lot when I was on Easton City Council. Money gets appropriated at the federal and state levels but it gets spent at the local level. Local politics has a HUGE impact on our lives, much larger than many people realize. That said, I agree that it’s harder for folks to get information with the closure of so many local newspapers and the almost exclusive focus on national news by the remaining media. But people have some responsibility here to find out who is running and what they stand for. There are organizations like The League of Women Voters, Lehigh Valley News, local public TV stations and various political committees that put out all this information and cover debates. The information is there. But people have to do the work and look for it.
David O’Connell
as democracy slowly dies...
Totally agree. The media coverage is non existent. Even a voter like me who always votes finds it difficult to get information on candidates. The school board cross filing nonsense makes it hard to find out what these people actually stand for. Boiler plate bios tell you nothing.
I serve on a local board. Recently, there was a big issue in one of the neighborhoods with lots of complaints on social media. At our last meeting we were expecting people to show up and speak out but no one came. Facebook Warriors think complaining on some random post is taking action but it's meaningless. You have to show up to where the decisions are actually made. Just making noise won't make change.
I voted because I think that I and everyone else should always exercise that right. The current available choice to use a MIB makes it very easy to do so. I believe that people do not vote in local primary elections for various reasons but the lack of good candidates on the ballot and also the amount of uncontested primary races often decrease the level of voter interest. It is a sad reality when one of the major local political parties cannot find a candidate to run for mayor in the two largest cities in our area.
Looking closer, many of the ‘local’ expenditures of benefit to residents are fully dependent on State and Federal grants. Our local politician takes the credit but it is politicians at higher levels that provide the ‘juice.’ Unfortunately, the juice is still OUR money.
It would help if the larger news media didn’t skew everything in the direction of their own preferred political party. It is no longer possible to trust what we read, hear, or see coming out of our news providers.
Locally, the Morning Call is totaling in the tank for pushing progressive, ultra liberal philosophy. It also does a thorough job of censorship of events and statements that might shed a different light on the actual reality they don’t want readers to receive.
Those who take the bulk of their knowledge from the Morning Call really don’t have an accurate picture of what’s going on at a broader scale. Propaganda is real.
i thinkl you hit the nail on the head--uncontested races and lack of quality candidates. In some cases you might see better turnouts in November when races are contested and voters can vote opposite their party instead of their party candidate.
Good points Bernie. Trump didn't build that warehouse or expand that landfill. People worry more about who's in the White House than about who their local leaders are but it's the local boards and councils that affect your life daily. That school tax increase hits you immediately. That township council approving that warehouse affects you directly. That city waiving the zoning to allow the developer to build more unaffordable apartments affects affects that neighborhood. [whining and crying] "But Trump is gonna...." "But Harris is gonna....". Your local elections matter more and whom you elect are the ones who wage war your checkbook. Young adults graduate from high school and college learning that Trump is an idiot but have no idea how their local government works or how much authority they really have.
It is very difficult to find people willing to run for office. I spent hundreds of hours on the phone with people trying to recruit candidates and I am proud of the people that stepped up, but most people feel like they are not qualified or don't have the time.
If anyone is interested in finding out more about running in the future, reach out to your county party chair and they will direct you.
Good point! I did the same thing. I was able to access candidate's bio easily before voting and search their prior political history. Somehow that seemed to make my vote seem more important.
I’ve worked in several newsrooms. We had so much trouble organizing a lunch order that I can’t imagine we’d ever be able to manage a global conspiracy.
Jeff Ward
Lower turnout increases the power of my vote. If you have to be reminded to vote, please stay home and don't complete any ballot.
But that is the problem. Low turnout ends up being who the candidates know rather than their position on key items. Was not easy finding information on candidates that is not biased and based on facts only.example school board who can and is raising taxes to an outrageous degree was hard to locate facts. No mailers. Nothing
Best post on here Vlad. The school boards and twp supervisors especially. They’re important and nobody pays attention.
When ngos are paying people to vote in a low appeal election this is the turn out numbers.
I've never missed voting in an election, and was indoctrinated into that voting commitment since I can remember, by my late father who was a World War II and Korean War veteran. These days I've become less excited about the civic responsibility of voting because of your first two points. It seems that once many are elected they decide they'll do whatever they want to, regardless of whether the electorate benefits.
1st, nobody especially young voters have time anymore, look at the fire companies & ambulance corps! Everyone of them are looking for volunteers, they can’t fine any! 2nd, who the hell wants to put up with the bullshit you get, dame if you do or dame if you don’t! And as time goes on it’s going to get worse!
Voter participation and church attendance suffer the same problem.
Uninspiring leadership.
Church attendance is on the way out. Churches all over are closing because the long-time elderly are passing and no younger people are coming in to join. Both the husband and wife are both working. On Saturdays they clean the house and go grocery shopping. ON Sundays they just want to chill out.All these scandals involving the Catholic Church don't help. Of course Catholics can attend church on Saturday night to "get it out of the way".
So does Barron do any county work or is he just running Zirinski's campaign. He is bragging on how 'they' did this and that to get her to win. Berine, your love for Barron/McClure and hatred for Cozze has once regain put people in a bad spot. The untold story is how the government of Northampton has been coopted by the sitting administration to promote an unqualified person in order to keep McClure people in their jobs, please clean hose this Fall. You should be ashamed for not covering this outrage.
Would a mailer help you know who is raising taxes on school board? They aren't going to admit it if they did it, and it is rare for a negative mailer in a primary.
School board is an unpaid position and mailers are ridiculously expensive so it's tough to justify raising or spending the money to send them.
Actually, Republican turnout, although not great, was better than Democratic turnout in this election. In Northampton County, there are 85,995 registered Republicans, 15,422 of whom voted in this primary. There are 94,842 registered Democrats and only 12,920 of them voted. 18% Republican turnout is bad and 14% Democratic turnout is even worse.
Are you saying Saturday night mass meets Sunday obligation?
You hit the nail on the head. People feel disengaged, disillusioned, or disconnected from the process for many reasons, but above all it's the fact that the "self-serving, ladder climbing phonies" get their way one way or another.
Allentown just pushed to November (let's not say 'elected' or 'nominated' since the turnout was abysmal) a young man whose day job at Butz will translate to the company continuing to be awarded massive building projects. My question is, will Mr. Pungo recuse himself from votes pertaining to various office, retail, commercial and residential projects in the city now that he's poised to become a councilman? My guess is no.
The candidates who have run this cycle were approached and coached by those already in office. Jeremy Binder and Cristian Pungo specifically were hand-picked by existing council members and the mayor's office, and their campaigns were funded accordingly. When people see the machine at work and everyone shrugs and says, "Well, what can we do?" this is exactly what we get.
Cozze is not qualified to run the County. Telling people what they want to hear at a debate and a meeting doesn’t make you qualified. I have asked several times on this blog what makes her qualified? Because a form Congresswoman and the worst council president says so. She had no experience, never served on council and besides working in elections where there were problems while she was the head of the department, she was Charles secretary. Her job with the Senator had nothing to do with running a County. She was a bad candidate and the voters overwhelmingly told her and Susan that. Apparently the voters of Northampton County like the last 8 years and don’t want an entire change at the County level.
And one last thing that this election told me was that if Susan was half as popular in Northampton County as Lamont she would still be the Congresswoman.
Your numbers are reversed. And also wrong.
There were over 40,000 votes cast between the mail in and in person voting.
Almost 24,000 votes were cast for Zrinski + Cozze.
Giovanni got 12,164.
MAGA only votes when Trump is on the ticket true statement why would you want to vote for those pitiful politicians who are only out for themselves
And the tea party voted before MAGA. Hardcore republicans who don’t vote, do vote in presidential elections. McClure is the clear choice moving forward or Dems can vote for Carol or some other sucker who has no chance and even if they win in a blue wave they will be gone in 2 years.
Post a Comment