Sometimes those you elect to send downtown are even more critical than who goes to D.C. Today, we welcome Multi-TaskingWoman Traci O'Neal Ellis as she shares her views, as a mom, attorney, and member of her local school board in the Chicago area.
Listen in:
It is said that the United States is governed by the majority. Well, that’s not exactly true. The United States is governed by the majority who participate, which, as it turns out, is actually a minority of eligible voters. While presidential elections drive voters to the polls in droves, local and state elections pale in comparison. Yet, in terms of the effect that the local and state elections have on our day to day lives compared to presidential elections, it is amazing how few voters actually turn out for these critical races.
While the presidential and congressional elections are critical because the winners will determine weighty issues such as whether corporate and personal federal income taxes will be raised, whether policies will encourage job growth or eliminate jobs, and whether we go to war and how many of our children will be sent to fight that war, the local and state elections are no less important, and arguably, possibly more important—at least as far as the immediate and personal effect on our daily lives.
Our local and state politicians decide the quality of life in our communities. In addition to the power to raise and lower taxes, they decide whether our school districts deliver a quality education, thereby creating a desirable and sustainable community in which to live and raise a family, and whether we are producing intelligent, employable, productive citizens. They determine whether our community is a desirable place for businesses to locate and therefore, ultimately, whether our community has a solid and diversified tax base. Additionally, the President will never be in a better position than our local mayor and state representative to impact crime in our communities. Furthermore, if we don’t like the decisions they are making, they are much more accountable to us because we have more direct access to them than to the President or members of the US Congress.
I urge you to get involved and vote in your local and state elections. These elections are often decided by just a relatively few votes. So, the question of whether one vote can really make a difference is a resounding yes when only hundreds or thousands of votes are being cast. We have to ensure that the people who impact our daily lives so closely are compelled to govern according to the will of the people, not their own personal agendas. Unfortunately, for each one of us who decides to ignore these local elections, that is one less person with whom the local politician has to be concerned.
As the American journalist George Jean Nathan once said, “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who don’t vote.” Let’s not be one of those good citizens.
Traci O’Neal Ellis is an attorney and business owner who ran and was elected to a seat on her local school board in Illinois. She is currently in her first 4 year term. You can connect with her on Facebook.
