Political negativity?
Where have all the local voters gone this election?
Maybe they’re in bed with the covers pulled up over their respective heads saying, “I’m sick of all of this.”
I drove by some polling places Friday, but they looked like relative ghost towns, like nothing I’ve ever seen before during previous Hidalgo County election cycles. This Sunday, which should have seen a relatively big voter turnout, only71 people, for example, showed up in Las Milpas to vote, and that includes ballots for three school districts: Hidalgo, PSJA, and Valley View. In Hidalgo, the number of voters who turned out was only 33, which is the equivalent of two politiquera vans, maybe three, loaded with folks from the nursing homes.
On Friday, when I drove by the San Juan Library, the Pepe Salinas Civic Center in Pharr, and McAllen’s library branch on Lark, it was like everyone was on a lunch break, with few cars in sight.
Besides the local elections, we have a tightly contested governor’s race, three heated U.S. congressional races, a state senate race, county races with two parties running for a change, and still, the voters are staying away from the polls.
I think the average voter is just fed up with all the negativity running through the ether.
The federal elections filter down to the state elections, which filter down to the local elections, and the voters are staying away like I’ve never seen before, and I’ve been covering local political elections for 40 years, going all the way back to 1982 when Mark White unseated Bill Clements, and White’s wife, Linda, stopped by Alamo at Sandoval’s convenience store to rouse the voters. Fun times. These days, not so much.
Maybe it’s partly because the news in general these days is just negative no matter where you look. Either a new more virulent COVID outbreak is ready to kick off this winter or Putin is ready to launch a nuke. The economy isn’t what it should be, grocery prices are soaring, and people are just fed up with politics. Period.
The politicians in general are running more negative ads than ever before. Locally, not so much, but certainly at the state and national levels (local U.S. reps, etc.). People must be thinking, just what I need – more negativity in my life. Thanks, but no thanks.
In Hidalgo County, during the first six days of voting last week, based on figures courtesy of the county’s elections department, the registered-voter count is five points fewer than four years ago – 12.4 percent vs. 17.7 percent. Those percentage points represent approximately 52,000 people vs. 64,000. This, in a county with 417,451 voters.
It’s not only Hidalgo County where voters are saying no to the ballot box. Four years ago, approximately 20.5 percent of registered voters across the state had already cast their lot vs. approximately 12.9 percent this year.
Whatever Abbott and Beto et al are offering, the voters don’t seem excited.
Meanwhile, millions and millions of out-of-state SuperPAC money is flooding the TV airwaves, implying this candidate is an unethical attorney, while this candidate is a witch with a broom, which might have made sense back in the day; but today, with 247 channels to choose from on the boob tube, how productive can that TV commercial spending actually be? Same with commercial radio. I don’t know about you, but I either listen to Apple music while behind the wheel or a podcast.
Locally, maybe some of the low voter turnout has to do with some of the nasty primaries seen in both parties. Voters had to wade through that pig slop, and maybe they just don’t want to wade through it again.
Also, this election is the first one that doesn’t include the straight-ticket vote, la palanca. People actually have to read the names and vote. They can’t tap one button and vote straight party ticket. Too much work?
Still, I can’t end without getting out this one message. Voting really does matter. In decades prior, the two parties were more moderate, more closer aligned, so who won didn’t matter quite as much. Now, they’re divided like never before, so who you vote for really does matter in the grand scheme of things.
That also includes some local elections. So at least look over the races, steal a few minutes away from lunch, and go vote.