I would publicly like to congratulate Scott Malsin and Jeff Cooper on their election victories to the City Council.
However, I am disappointed in the extremely low turnout of 5,058 out of 24,121 registered voters.
This means that only 1 in 5 voters chose to have a say on who would be running our city government.
A further breakdown of the polling data shows that Malsin, with 2,911 votes, will have a mandate of only 12 percent of the registered voters. Cooper, with 2,486 votes cast, will have a 10.3 percent mandate.
A government elected with only a 12 percent mandate of the registered voting population raises the question of legitimacy. Some dictatorships have more support from their populace!
Is this any way to run a democracy?
Why was the voter turnout so low?
Quite simply, most people don't go to the polls when there isn't a general election. Blame it on the City Charter, which “provides that there shall be an election in our City on the second Tuesday of April of each even numbered year.”
If the City Charter were changed so that elections would be consolidated with the general election on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November of even numbered years, the voter turnout could triple to 60 percent.
How would that change things? The increase in voter participation would dilute the power of the political machine that can call on the loyalty of roughly 2,500 supporters to vote any given way of their choosing.
It is no secret among the “insiders” that run things in this city that Alan Corlin's “political machine” successfully backed Cooper and Malsin.
According to their March 27 campaign disclosure statements, Malsin received $31,216 in campaign contributions and Cooper received $22,068.
Poor Meghan Sahli-Wells received $38,978.66 and came up short 31 votes.
I received a measly $307 in donations. I think I got more bang for my buck on my 770 votes than the rest of the candidates.
In an effort to get more participation in our democratic process, I will be seeking help from the voters of our city to change the City Charter. You may contact me at zirgulisr@yahoo.com
