Get Out the Vote

March 19, 2006

“It was a great national contest that will immediately be recognizable to you. Two men were vying for one prize. Although tens of millions of ballots were cast, the margin separating the two was less than 1 percent of the total. The announcer ticked off the state by state tallies as the two candidates, both Southerners, watched closely. One candidate had won Ohio and New York. The other had won a great bounty: Florida. As the night wore on, reporters came to us live from massive placard-waving rallies in the candidates’ hometowns. Minutes later, the network was ready to make its announcement, once that would answer the question on the minds of millions.”

This opening paragraph in David T.Z. Mindich’s 2005 book Tuned Out, could easily refer to one of two great races. The obvious answer to many is the 2002 Bush v. Gore race. Or, it could go the other way – to an election that saw a voter turnout of 24 million where we heard, “ladies and gentleman, the winner of American Idol 2003 is Ruben Studdard.” (Clearly, some of these voters were minors, but bear with me here.)

In November 2000, about 37 percent of the 457 registered Bluffton voters cast ballots. In 2002, turnout was about 51 percent, or about 215, of the 425 registered voters. And, on November 15, 2005, 265 Bluffton voters came out for our local election (a mere 22% of the nearly 1,200 registered voters). The run-off on November 29 saw 350 ballots cast.

265.

350.

Where were you Bluffton? Is it only wings and pancakes that move you?As a fairly newbie, I know that registering to vote is not at the top of the list of things to do. When you finally make the trek to Motor Vehicle, you do have the option of “motor votering” and registering yourself at the same time as your car. However, that system failed me and hubby, and a number of other folks I’ve heard from. (I will say though, you may just need to wait out the system as my mom just received her card seven months after becoming a motor voter.)

I’ll admit I was not at the polls on Election Day and until this week my second voter registration form sat on the corner of my desk at home. But, now that it is submitted, I will monitor the mailbox until I am official.

In sixth grade, when Missy Mikovits and I ran for class president and vice president against Bryan Dickerson and his running mate (who’s name escapes me) everyone turned out for the vote. Yes, we were probably required to, but the power that our vote wielded drove the sixth graders to debate, to make signs, and to campaign on the school bus. It was that power that made the process all that sweeter. And it was the 100% turnout that made our loss ever the more painful.

So, where is the passion? Is it that we feel that we hold no power? Why aren’t we motivated to make it to the polls?I don’t know what the answer is but come November, I will stand at the polls all day if I have to and I invite all of you who want to take me to task - on pancakes, wings, manners, Southern charm, or whatever the topic of the day may be - to show up and vote.

Cast your vote, engage in some friendly debate and then let’s shake hands.

Then we will all be winners at the polls that day – after all, if we have the freedom to voice our opinions, shouldn’t we?