My Personal Take on the Local Political Scene in Ohio - We Are Slowly Improving!

In my opinion there are some cold hard facts about Ohio politics which should no longer be ignored by our residents. One of the most obvious facts about the sorry state of voter turnout is that there are far too many residents who do not care enough to take the time to go out and vote, even though they are probably registered voters! The problem with Apathetic voters is that they do not care until after the elections are over! Face it folks this means that we are actually part of the problem if we decide to skip the process of actually voting!

Sadly registering to vote is not exactly the same thing as actually showing up on Election Day to cast your vote for the issues and candidates. These are the same people whose agendas may ultimately affect you directly! Strange that more people get excited about voting for the President, but the outcome there affects us in a much less direct manner as compared to the effects of a local election. Locally you will see the immediate results when your local elected officials make rules and ordinances which affect and control your day to day living.

Voters in some Ohio counties are far more active than others, for example according the Geauga County Board of Elections Records, after this years primaries, held May 4th, 2010, it was recorded that Geauga County had over 25% registered voter turnout. Not too bad when another nearby county had only 10% of their registered voters show up at the polls. Still it is not nearly good enough, and this is exactly why we have problems with the way our local, state, and even federal government is being implemented and managed. But it is really hard to make positive change without having the voters turn out to help make good decisions!

I speak from a credible position on this topic as I was once very apathetic regarding the entire voting process. I did not believe that my one tiny vote could possibly make a difference, and lets be honest, my one vote may not make any difference at all, but when tens of thousands of us feel this same way, then the process is destined to fail.

I am starting to think perhaps it should be mandatory that we vote before certain services can be delivered to us. For example what if you could not renew your drivers license if you do not vote? Or what if you were excluded from receiving specific financial aid from local or state funds if you choose to not vote. I agree that these are fairly over the top ideas and solutions, but when such a small turnout of voters gets to choose and decide who will become our next group of leaders, then we have an emergency on our hands!

Maybe that is a little radical but perhaps that is what we need to shake this place up! In the old days it was considered your civic duty to vote, and it really still is. My friends and I have long had a rule where you are not allowed to speak about politics unless you are an active voter. This rule kept a lot of hot air from passing through the room from those who can not be bothered to take their precious time to go and vote. Heck your employer has to let you go vote if the polling locations would be closed when your shift begins or ends.

So how do we fix the current state of apathy here in the United States when it comes to voting? Perhaps we need to move the day we vote to something that is so patriotic that we just could not avoid voting if we tried? What if we worked out a system using the cable and satellite television systems we all know and love? Heck a fifth grader can program the wheels off most computerized things, especially a cable television remote, so I am certain there is a way that we can all vote from home!

If security is an issue then have one of the big anti-virus and spy-ware prevention companies make up a reliable program that would verify voter registration and make sure you only voted once. The programmers can do this with coupons we cut on the Internet, so I am certain they can create a reliable program for voting! Give the job to some of those computer whiz kids who write code for Social Networking sites like Facebook.

Ultimately we are freely giving away one of our most basic rights as citizens of a free country when we decide it is not important enough to get out and vote. This would be met with contempt and shame in some countries who have never had the luxury of living in a free society. Another thing we all need to think if we are going to head to the polls is to really research all the issues and candidates on the ballot so that we are making wisely informed decisions once you are ready to place your votes!

For more information on registering and then voting, and how do you keep up with current election issues?please visit the Geauga County Ohio Board of Elections website.
co.geauga.oh.us/Departments/BOE/Elections/20100504_summary.aspx

Sources:

Election Results, Geauga County Ohio Board of Elections website.

Voter registration data for Ohio, Voter turnout May 4th, 2010

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