State and local elections are important

There have been many negative things stemming from the increasing nationalization of American politics. And while I could talk about many of them, I would like to take the space this weekend to talk about one of the biggest ones — the de-emphasis, if not outright ignoring, of state and local elections.

Several cities and counties held municipal elections less than two weeks ago, and in many cases, the turnout was 15% or less of the electorate.

Here in Poplar Bluff, only 50 people cast votes in one ward’s city council race, while another ward had just 40 people vote in its city council race. That low turnout was common in races across the area.

While I am not criticizing the choices that voters made, it is surprising and disappointing that so few voters exercise their right to decide who represents them in local government.

Some might wonder why state and local elections, especially local races, are so important. After all, a member of the city council, an alderman or a mayor does not have the power of a senator or a president.

The answer to that is easy: many of the things that affect us in our daily lives are not determined by what happens in Washington, D.C. They are determined by what happens in Jefferson City, or more often, in our local city halls and county commission meetings.

Washington has no say on what the local sales tax rate will be. Washington does not decide whether or not city streets will see improvements. Washington does not determine how your local tax dollars will be spent. Washington does not decide whether or not people can own certain pets, like pit bulls.

State governments also determine many things in our life that the federal government has no say on. The 10th amendment of the United States Constitution allocates any powers not explicitly granted to the federal government to the states.

A recent example of that was during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal government had no constitutional power to institute a nationwide lockdown, stay-at-home order or shelter-in-place order. Instead, those orders were issued by state and local governments because only they had the power to do so.

Municipal elections and midterm elections often are known for having relatively low voter turnout. Considering the importance of state and local government decisions, the opposite should be true. So the next time you get an opportunity to vote in a city, county or state election, make your voice heard and get out and vote.

Mike Buhler is a staff writer for the Daily American Republic. Contact him at mbuhler.dar@gmail.com.