Tt post oct 7 2016

#toledo #politics

"I'm so done with politics I could puke."

Most people figured that out many years ago. Better things to do with one's time. That's why turnout for local elections is stunningly low.

2017 is a normal Toledo election year for the six at-large city council seats and for mayor. The primary for both will be held in September.

Turnout for the September 2017 primary will probably be 12 to 14 percent. The turnout for the November 2017 general election will be about 22 percent. (It was 25 percent in 2013).

And that's for mayor and half of city council. Turnout has been declining every four years.

• September 2005:
  • Turnout: 22 percent
  • Total votes cast for mayor: 41,594

• September 2009:
  • Turnout: 20 percent
  • Total votes cast for mayor: 36,307

• September 2013:
  • Turnout: ~15 percent
  • Total votes cast for mayor: ~24,877

Toledo turnout for November elections:

• 2005 : 41 percent
• 2009 : 34 percent
• 2013 : 25 percent

I used to think that local politicians would love an 18-month, circus-filled presidential election cycle because that would mean nobody is paying attention to what the local politicians are doing.

But clearly, 70 to 90 percent of eligible Toledo voters don't pay attention to local politics even with the mayor's race and the at-large council races occurring in an off-election year for federal races. In those odd years, the focus should be on the local races. Those are more important anyway.

Ask random Toledo residents to name their district councilperson. See if those residents even know what district they live in. See if they can name any three council members, at-large or district. Can they name at least one county commissioner? Do they know what the city charter is? Hell, do our council members know what the city charter is? It doesn't seem like it.

Maybe that trivia is unimportant to residents because local politics is trivial. It doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Therefore, no need to vote. I kind of agree.

More numbers:

In the November 1993 Toledo mayoral election, Carty Finkbeiner defeated Mike Ferner by 672 votes. In that election, 92,470 votes were cast.

20 years later in the November 2013 Toledo mayoral election, 49,538 votes were cast.

Toledo's population:

• 1990 : 332,943
• 2010 : 287,208
• 2015 estimated : 279,789

Obviously, Toledo's declining population easily explains the declining raw vote totals, but turnout is relative, and that's strangely declining at a significant rate. I guess that the people who moved away were more likely to vote.

Only 25 percent of registered voters turned out in Toledo's 2013 elections. (Last year's free-for-all mayoral election had a turnout over 30 percent.)

According to this March 2016 Blade story, 28 percent of Toledoans live below the poverty line. That would include people who can't vote, but still.

28 percent poverty rate. 25 percent voter turnout.