So, Where Are All These New Voters?

We Held An Election, No One Came!

by Johnny Gunn

"Several thousand new registered voters" cried the various registrars and clerks around the Silver State; "more voters than ever before" called out the press releases from the state elections boss; and the results are far more than disappointing. Less than 28 percent of those eligible bothered to take part in a Primary Election that will help determine the make up of the next legislature; the make up of the state's highest court; and will lead several to seats on various county commissions and court benches. Not to mention Nevada's congressional delegation.

The last legislature enacted the largest tax increases this state has seen in generations, and less than a third of the electorate cares? The high court has changed the lives of thousands of Nevadans a couple of times recently, and only 28 percent of the registered voters give a damn? There's an implied reaction that follows the act of registering to vote.

But why are we surprised? The level of cynicism that hangs over today's politics is amazing when you have lived as long as this crusty old dog. The great debates of the past aren't even discussed in civics classes any more. There aren't even civics classes in many schools today. It seems that we are so taken up in name-calling, polarization of hatred, and immunity from knowledge, that we can't function as a responsible citizen.

In an article that appeared in the August 30 edition of The New Yorker, Louis Menand said, "Seventy percent of Americans cannot name their senators or their congressman."

That's an amazing statement when you take the time to understand what he said. That means that only 30 percent of Americans can. About the same number that took the time to vote. He went on to say, "Forty-nine percent believe the President has the power to suspend the Constitution." Almost half of our population doesn't understand that simple fact.

Nevada has two Senators, the same as all the other states, and we have three representatives in Congress, all three of whom are up for election in this cycle. Senators serve six years, and this year we will be deciding whether or not to send Harry Reid back to Washington again. How many of these thousands of new registered voters even knew that? How about those who have been registered for decades and don't bother to vote? There was a Primary for Republicans looking to have the opportunity to try to unseat Mr. Reid. Only about 60,000 Republicans bothered to vote.

Are you one of those who says, my vote isn't that important, anyway? If so, Doug Bache and Bob McCleary, fighting it out for the right to be on the General Election ballot for State Assembly District 11, would like to sit you down for a little talk. Mr. Bache lost the Primary by just 28 votes. Don't tell him your vote doesn't count.

How many of these people who registered during "the big push" were only thinking of the Presidential battle that is being fought, and didn't even know how much their lives are ruled at a very local level. Scream about taxes, scream about the horrible condition of today's education process, scream about safety and health issues, and it all comes back to the local level.

Nevada's schools are under funded because of our legislature, not a current, former, or future president. Nevada's hospitals charge more than those in almost every other state, and it's because of local politics, not presidential politics. Our roads are maintained at the local level, not at the White House level. Police, fire, and ambulance service is funded primarily from local level taxes.

Local level politics plays a far more important part in your life than presidential politics, and if your level of interest in how your life is to be lived is based only on who might be president, I would suggest a cram course in civics between now and November.

Oh, by the way --- if you didn't vote in the primary, are you still registered?