We read with interest a story published by al.com this week that looked at voter turnout in all 67 Alabama counties during the June primary elections. They ranked the counties from one to 67 based on the percent of registered voters in each county who cast a ballot.
Escambia County ranked 64 out of the 67 counties with only 21 percent of the voters showing up. Green County came in first with a 50 percent voter turnout and Lee County came in last with a 17 percent voter turnout.
The figures showed that 5,164 of Escambia County's 25,081 registered voters went to the polls in June. That's pathetic. We actually think that Green County's 50-percent voter turnout is pathetic because it tells us that half of the people in that county don't care about elections, which tells us they don't care about how their tax dollars are being spent, they don't care if their roads are being paved, they don't care if their sheriff's office is staffed to a level to provide them protection – it simply tells us they don't care, but obviously they care more than we do.
People seem to care when their property taxes increase, they care when their sales taxes increase, they care when they can't get an ambulance, firetruck or police officer quick enough and they care when a road is closed due to repairs. It's easy to complain after the fact and criticize the elected officials that made those decisions. But we don't think you really have a right to complain if you didn't have a voice in who was making those decisions on your behalf.
There's a multitude of races on the Nov. 6 ballot from the governor's office to the county commission. We have a sheriff's race and a race to see who represents us in Montgomery in the Alabama Legislature. We've got school board races and a county commission race that includes the Flomaton district.
Why don't you care? It boggles our mind.
We're supposed to live in a country where the majority rules. But it appears that we live in a country where the minority does all the electing.
You have a voice in law enforcement, you have a voice in fire and ambulance service, you have a voice in roadwork and beyond. Use your voice Nov. 6 at the ballot box.
