Off-year election has low voter turnout

Low turnout for Portage County voters

By Jasmine Pace

PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO — On November 5, registered voters in Portage County went out and cast their vote concerning local issues.

Some of the big time issues were the Portage County Mental Health and Recovery Board, which is a 1 million dollar tax levy for programs and services for 10 years; Kent city, income tax increase of 0.25% for helping the Kent Police Department building; and Disincorporation of village, concerning Brady Lake Village.

Overall, there were 28 issues on the ballot this year.

Last Monday, November 4, Mike Sever, Record-Courier reporter, reported that Portage could face a low election.

“Historically such off-year elections (general elections held to odd numbered years that rarely feature federal state legislative or gubernatorial offices) will have a turnout of less than half the registered voters,” writes Sever.

Being that this is an off-year election, many registered voters may not participate because major federal and state wide issues/politicians are not on the ballot.

As predicted, the majority of Portage County registered voters did not participate in this year’s fall election.

Portage County board of elections reports that out of the 108,594 registered voters, only 31,333 people voted. This is only 28.85% of people who voted.

Out of those 31,333 voters, 3,256 of them were Absentee votes.

One would have to wonder why more people would not participate in elections that focus on local issues because usually these elections affect people directly.

During last year’s election, out of the 108,154 (at the time) registered voters, 76,384 people voted for the president/vice president of the United States. This means 71% of registered voters participated in last year’s election.

By the numbers, the people of Portage County tend to participate in federal issues more than local issues.

Nevertheless, registered voters have the right to participate in any election they would like.

Most of the issues that affect residents are tax increases, school issues, political leaders, etc.

How important is local government?

Why let 28% of voters decide who should represent their city, township, or village?

“I think most voters are uninformed, they only get 30 to 60 second sound bites,” said Kent resident, Bill Hover.

It could be that people in the community do not get proper information about local political issues as stated by Bill Hover.

Out at the polls there seemed to be a more favorable outlook on local government rather than state or federal government.

“It seems that local government is more transparent than state and federal government,” said Hover.

As I mentioned earlier, voters have a direct contact and connection with local government officials and issues.

That is not to negate the fact that they have access to state and federal officials, but it is limited.

The question that arises is why are people more willing to participate in “big” elections (e.g. federal and state issues) rather than local issues?

[pullquote]“It seems that local government is more transparent than state and federal government,” said Hover.[/pullquote]

Jumping from last year’s election of 71% to this year’s election of 28% of voters participating, that is a 43% difference of voter participation.

What is interesting is that according to a Pew Research study, 19% of Americans trust the government. However, as one can tell by the numbers, the majority of people, at least in Portage County are only voting for federal issues.

This study focused on federal government, but it would be interesting to see what people think of local government.

Voting is a democratic right. Whether one votes in a “big” or “off-year” election is an example of Americans expressing those rights.