I know most people are focused on the 2016 presidential election, which will take place Nov. 8. I am excited so many people are paying attention to the person who will succeed President Obama. I know there are many concerns about the presumptive nominees of both the Democratic and Republican parties. However, we cannot be blinded by the presidency and forget all of the important lower-level elections occurring this year and every year.
As I have previously reminded my readers, New York voters will go to the polls June 28 to vote in their various congressional primaries and then again September 13 to vote for their various state legislators. Unfortunately, in races across the U.S., too many elected officials are running unopposed in both their primary (the race between people of the same party) and also their general election (the race between two people from different parties). When elected leaders run unopposed, voters are implicitly and explicitly telling their elected officials that they are not fully paying attention. Competition is healthy, especially in elections. There is a reason the framers of the U.S. decided to have staggered elections at the various levels of government. They wanted to be sure the will of the people could be exercised freely and often (obviously the inclusionary efforts of voters have taken some time to become a reality).
I was recently looking at poll numbers from the midterm elections in 2014 and realized that turnout was abysmal. There was no presidential race on the ballot and most Americans chose to stay home. The New York Times reported, “In 43 states, less than half the eligible population bothered to vote, and no state broke 60 percent.” And in New York, California and Texas, less than one-third of the eligible population bothered to vote! This is of great concern for a host of reasons. Judge Aaron Persky, the California judge who recently gave the Stanford rapist Brock Turner only six months in jail, is currently up for reelection. Persky is running unopposed and thus does not even show up on the ballot. So many people are outraged by the actions or inaction of their elected officials (judges included), but they have not and do not go to the polls to let their dissatisfaction be known. This apathy must change.
As Americans, we can no longer only pay attention to the “big race” of the presidency. Every minor office counts. How many people can name their district leader, city council member, state legislator and state senator? The New York State Senate just passed a $155.6 billion 2016-2017 budget. That is billion with a “B”! Who is in charge of this money? Will it go toward affordable housing, your child’s school, public education at the university level, crumbling infrastructure, public health issues, prisons or something else? We must keep our eyes open and let our elected officials at all levels know we are paying attention and are aware of our capacity to keep them in office or remove them at our will.
Christina Greer, Ph.D., is an associate professor at Fordham University and the author of “Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream.” You can find her on Twitter @Dr_CMGreer.