For those of you who didn’t already know, today is election day. You may be thinking to yourself, “Wait a minute. Didn’t we just have one of those last year?” Why, yes, you are correct. We did indeed. But there are elections every year, and Ed Board thinks they are worth noting and voting. Just because you can’t change the big cheese doesn’t mean you shouldn’t head to the polls.
Unfortunately, most Americans don’t pay these off-year elections the kind of attention they deserve. In Ed Board’s own 18- to 24-year-old age group, turnout for the 2002 Congressional elections was a mere 17 percent nationally. Texas turnout fares even worse (tied for last place with Oklahoma) with an abysmal 12 percent for that same year.
Even with programs like “Rock the Vote,” college-age students are clearly still apathetic and not making use of their right to choose who will be their voices in government.
These elections are not just about voting for people, however; they’re also about letting your legislators know whether you give their laws a great, big citizen seal of approval or whether they just got it all wrong.
In fact, that’s what Texas’ election is mainly about this year.There are nine propositions or potential constitutional amendments on the state ballot that have been passed by both houses of the Texas legislature and are being put to the voters to decide if they will be tacked on to the other 432 amendments. The most controversial is Proposition 2, the gay marriage amendment.
If you’re registered to vote in the city of Dallas, then there are additional issues on today’s ballot.
Since the “strong mayor” referendum crashed and burned in May, voters are being asked to consider Proposition 1, or the “marginally stronger but not quite so strong as the ‘strong mayor'” referendum.
If you missed the registration deadline or you’re simply unimpressed by constitutional amendments, you won’t have to wait long for another chance to vote. Texas’ gubernatorial primary will be held in March 2006.
But in case four months just isn’t enough time for you to fill out a complicated voter registration form, you can always vote in the gubernatorial election in November 2006.
