Believe there have been various posts about this in the past on this blog.
I decided to share some statistical information with those who do read it. It is amazing though how the elected body that has the greatest effect on our daily lives draws the absolute smallest response on election day. At a presidential election the turnout is pretty good...........but the president, congress etc does not have the effect on us daily that the city does. It's the city that sets property taxes, local sales taxes, provides public safety services, public infrastructure services etc etc................don't think I've ever seen a congressman, senator or president shoveling/plowing snow or laying asphalt, responding to a domestic violence situation, putting out a fire, or rushing a heart attack victim to the hospital.
Here are the figures:
April 2010 Council Election
Ward Registered Voted Percent
1 -----10,104---- 1,393 ----13.78%
2 ------8,668 ------808 -----9.32%
3----- 11,930 ------893 -----7.49%
4 ------9,160 ------807------8.81%
April 2008 Council & Mayor Election
1------ 9,792----- 1,786 -----18.24%
2------ 8,412 -----1,389----- 16.51%
3 -----11,030----- 1,260---- 11.42%
4------ 8,666----- 1,373----- 15.84%
November 2008 Presidential/Congressional Election
1------ 10,370----- 8,334---- 80.37%
2------- 8,939----- 6,689---- 74.83%
3------ 11,966----- 9,892---- 82.67%
4------- 9,516----- 7,351----- 77.25%
These figures are pretty interesting and in a way show how little the community really cares about how their city is run.
What is really a shame is that the county has made it so easy to vote. A voter does not have to show up on election day. They can vote early at designated locations, or they can even get a ballot by mail and not have to physically go to a polling location.
For info on advance voting please go here: http://www.jocoelection.org/voters/AdvanceVoting.htm
