Is It November Yet: Don’t Forget Local Elections!

With all the talk over who will make the best President, I want to make sure my readers are remembering something vitally important come this election season: your local elections. Trust me. I know that the Presidential election is important. I’m not saying to ignore it. In fact, I want you to research the issues and make the most informed decision that you can (without insulting your Mama). But I also want you to remember and research the issues that are important to your immediate location.

As an example, in our city, there are three fire levies hitting the ballot this November. Three. And whether or not they are passed or not greatly affects my family as well as all of the other fire families attached to our department. Do you know about any fire levies on your ballots? Do you know of anything on your ballots other than the McCain/Obama race?

I had a discussion with a friend who was well-educated on this Presidential race. She knew the pros and cons of both candidates and their Vice Presidential running mates. She knew the issues. She knew the fabrications, the times the truth has been stretched (for either side) and the outright lies. She knew quite a lot about the whole election and I consider her one of my most well-spoken friends on the topic of this election (even though she is supporting a different candidate than me!). But she knew no one running for local office in our area. We have a judge up for reelection! She didn’t know that we have some Senate and House seats in the race again. And she knew nothing of the fire levies.

Yikes.

And that’s why I am reminding and imploring you: learn about your local election issues. Please don’t just show up at your polling place and tick off boxes. Find out who is running for even the smallest of elected positions in your area. Get to know what they stand for and what they oppose. Show up and ask them questions. Push your local newspaper to cover these local elections even closer than they are (if they are at all). And get down to the bottom of what Mr. or Mrs. So-and-So being elected will mean for your family. Don’t make it a popularity vote. Don’t show up and check off boxes based on blind pointing and pressing. Educate yourself as well as you can about the issues that are of importance to your area and vote accordingly.

We cannot afford to ignore local issues just as we cannot afford to ignore issues that are important to us as a whole. Put in the leg work. Put in the time. And if you can’t find the answer, call someone who will know. There’s no excuse for being surprised with a name or an issue when you enter that polling booth. Get the information and pass it on! (Just not in the form of a slanderous forward, okay?)

Every Tuesday through November 4, 2008, we will be discussing something political here on Stop, Drop & Blog. Our weekly series is entitled “Is It November Yet” because, well, we’re excited for change, ready for the number of posts in our Google Reader to go down and overwhelmed with the wealth of information to search through. Next week we’ll be talking a little more about what fire levies mean for you if they’re on your ballot.