I popped into my neighborhood polling place Tuesday afternoon at about 3:30. It was just me and the poll workers, which struck me as a little odd.
The election was a “special” to fill a vacancy caused by the cancer death last year of our State Senator.
The poll workers told me I was the 42nd voter to come in since voting opened at 7 a.m.
Now it’s not like the State of California lacks for big issues that need to be decided. There are the dual matters of what we think the most equitable method of taxation should be and what state services we wish to pay for. Among the things that could change dramatically this year are:
- how we provide for those among us least able to provide for themselves
- whether we allow the next generation of Californians to become educated and provide the work-force for our economy in the coming decades
- and how we set aside our once-pristine land and allow folks to use it for recreation
When the votes were tallied, it seems only slightly more than one in 10 of the nearly half-million registered voters in the district wished to have a say on the issues. (The turnout was almost a percentage point higher in a district in the northern part of L.A. County also having a special election for the State Senate.) Nearly three in every five ballots cast in both districts were mail-in ballots.
This came five days after hordes of people risked their livelihoods — and their lives — to turn out in Cairo’s central square to demand a say in governing themselves.
The contrast is — to me, at least — stark.
When it comes right down to it, we invented a system of government that — despite its many faults — allows us to pick the fools who lead us. That’s something others around the world are willing to die for.
And to 90 per cent of us, it doesn’t even matter.