Letter to the editor
To the editor:
Every time there’s an election of some kind, we are exhorted to vote. As recently as the April 27 Ledger’s “Capitol News and Comment” section, Gov. Christie appeared pretty unhappy that only one in seven eligible voters turned out to vote in the school board and school budget elections around the state. She went on, “We need to include as many people as possible in these important elections.”
You’ve no doubt seen the bumper sticker, “Don’t vote. It only encourages them.” Christie’s comments lend credence to what, at first glance, looks like a mere jaded outlook. Standing alone as they do, without the hype and ballyhoo of November general elections, these school elections are, in her words, “rigged for the special interests and the highly motivated.”
I deduce from that that the guv prefers elections be settled by the disinterested, the uninformed, and the unmotivated. Gollygosh does THAT ever sound attractive!
When a majority, or even a very large minority, of eligible voters don’t vote, it’s not because there wasn’t enough hoopla. It’s because nobody gave them any reason to believe voting would serve any useful purpose. Any purpose, that is, besides letting politicians and their media bedmates twaddle on in the belief that The People are endorsing these pols’ conduct of government.
“There is no legitimate reason that they [school elections] shouldn’t be moved to November,” said Whitman.
So tell us, Ma’am, what legitimate reason is there for making it easier for election results to be determined by voters too disinterested, too uninformed, too unmotivated to care?
We don’t need more uninformed voters turning out just because they’re exhorted to. We DO need more voters who know and care what’s up. That means we need more straight talk from pols, more information from and about interest groups, more insightful media coverage. If we’re not going to have those ingredients, then let elections be settled by just those voters who DO give a fig.
Terry Wintroub
Trafalgar Court