I'm so curious about those who are responding "Other" in the poll about the low voter turnout. What do those encompass, I wonder? "Meant to vote, but forgot"? "Hated all the options"?
Ward 1 includes UNR. While there are many eligible-to-vote students who live in an adjacent ward, lots live in Ward 1. And the semester was over at voting time. I walked my neighborhood during early voting and observed lots of folks were on vacation.
Interesting point, thanks! I wonder how many UNR students are registered to vote at their school-year address rather than a more permanent address outside of Ward 1 (or even out of the city/state). I suppose those stats are probably available somewhere.
I believe Riley Sutton would be the most knowledgeable about a Ward comparison at a very granular level. Maybe some of us could speak with him together about coordinating GOTV and civic engagement efforts. I feel many of the campaigns get siloed necessarily due to being financed on very focused geographies
I answered Apathy/irrelevance meaning the irrelevance part. I don't think people are apathetic. They are concerned about local attitudes and decisions affecting their daily lives. However, they don't believe voting and attending public meetings will change anything. As many readers know, the opposite is the case. A shift in voting by a handful of our neighbors last week has determined the future. I believe there must be a coordinated and well funded effort to increase community engagement online and off.
I definitely agree about the need to increase community engagement--thanks for your comment, Gordon. I pondered making one of the options "It just doesn't matter," and I think you're right that many people think their political involvement won't make a difference, on both the local and state/national levels. But civic engagement is so critical, and we have to do everything we can to make sure that people don't give up on the political process.
Being a non-affiliated voter, it's easy to ignore these primaries since we don't get to participate in the national races that drive most of the awareness.
I'm so curious about those who are responding "Other" in the poll about the low voter turnout. What do those encompass, I wonder? "Meant to vote, but forgot"? "Hated all the options"?
Ward 1 includes UNR. While there are many eligible-to-vote students who live in an adjacent ward, lots live in Ward 1. And the semester was over at voting time. I walked my neighborhood during early voting and observed lots of folks were on vacation.
Interesting point, thanks! I wonder how many UNR students are registered to vote at their school-year address rather than a more permanent address outside of Ward 1 (or even out of the city/state). I suppose those stats are probably available somewhere.
I believe Riley Sutton would be the most knowledgeable about a Ward comparison at a very granular level. Maybe some of us could speak with him together about coordinating GOTV and civic engagement efforts. I feel many of the campaigns get siloed necessarily due to being financed on very focused geographies
I answered Apathy/irrelevance meaning the irrelevance part. I don't think people are apathetic. They are concerned about local attitudes and decisions affecting their daily lives. However, they don't believe voting and attending public meetings will change anything. As many readers know, the opposite is the case. A shift in voting by a handful of our neighbors last week has determined the future. I believe there must be a coordinated and well funded effort to increase community engagement online and off.
I definitely agree about the need to increase community engagement--thanks for your comment, Gordon. I pondered making one of the options "It just doesn't matter," and I think you're right that many people think their political involvement won't make a difference, on both the local and state/national levels. But civic engagement is so critical, and we have to do everything we can to make sure that people don't give up on the political process.
Being a non-affiliated voter, it's easy to ignore these primaries since we don't get to participate in the national races that drive most of the awareness.