For the first time ever that I can remember, all the candidates I voted for in our recent primary election made their top two spot and have qualified to run in the November general election! I couldn’t be more pleased! And besides that, I followed my self- developed 2018 guidelines – if possible to not vote for an incumbent and, if possible to vote for a woman. Yay!! Good news all around for Carolyn Long, Pam Nogueira Maneman, Debbie Oakes and Robin Souvenir!!!
Not such good news – apparently there was an abysmal voter turn-out. At last count, the percentage was 38.25% of registered voters in Pacific County who bothered to mark their ballots and turn them in. That was just under the overall Washington State average of 38.39%. Granted, final results will not be certified by the Secretary of State until August 24th to allow for mail-in votes to be counted. But, even so… it is frightening to me that fewer than half of our registered voters even bothered.
Presumably, the mail-in ballots were going to make it all easier. “Voter turnout” as in getting to the polls need no longer be the problem. So, what is? Surely, it’s not lack of interest and/or opinion. There is more political talk these days than ever before. People are expressing their opinions right and left (so to speak.) We’ve even had a few political discussions at our Friday night gatherings which, for almost twenty years, have been an unspoken off-limits area. So, as I see it, the low returns can’t be from lack of opportunity or lack of interest.
What, then? Inertia? Too busy to bother? Do people really not understand that their personal part of the democratic equation – the relatively simple act of making an informed choice and marking a ballot – is crucial? It’s discouraging. And, I have to say that there’s a lot of stupidity going around. I heard more than once from my friends who were working to get people to register that there are those still giving that old I-don’t-want-to-be-called-for-jury-duty excuse. OH PULEEZE!
Thanks to everyone who did vote and double thanks to all of you who helped get people registered and gave encouragement to us all. The good news is that the turnout was higher this time around that it was in the 2016 presidential primary (34.78% in WA.) But surely, we can do better.
I know for a fact that jury duty is not based on voter registration. My father was summoned for jury duty two years after his death. When I called the county to explain that they said that the jurors are drawn from the DMV rolls. So I called DMV to explain that my father’s drivers license might still be within its expiration date but he was no longer driving, and to please remove him. They said they would be happy to do that for $30 and an official copy of his death certificate. I figured that his license would asked eventually expire as he had. But! It did drive home to me that voter registration has nothing to do with jury duty.
Yep! My point exactly! It’s such a lame excuse for not voting. And why advertise that you aren’t a good citizen by admitting that you want to get out of jury duty? I have little patience with those people.