Column: Voting: No excuses

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By Larry Lannan

Most of us are very good at making excuses. We can rationalize almost anything if we try hard enough. This is especially true of voting.

When I ask people whether they voted in the most recent election, I get a variety of answers.  Some say they don’t have time. Others say they don’t have a candidate to support. Many tell me their single vote won’t make a difference.

With Fishers’ first city election coming up three weeks from now, allow me to give you just a few facts.

I went back to the Current in Fishers archives and found the results of our last municipal election. Voters went to the polls in May, 2011, for the Republican primary election. Two town council contests caught my eye.

In Council District 1, Pete Peterson won by just 12 votes. There were 3,840 votes cast in that district race. Peterson won by a percentage of .29%

In the race for Council District 3, Rene Cox won by a margin of only 25 votes. A total of 3,427 votes were tallied in that contest. Cox was a winner by a percentage margin of only .6%.

Why are these facts important? Because it puts to rest the fallacy that your single vote doesn’t count. In the two town council races I cited above, if 13 additional people had voted for one of Pete Peterson’s opponents, we would have another council member in District 1. Only 26 votes for Rene Cox’s opponent would have provided a different result.

Here’s another important fact. In all of Hamilton County, in the 2011 primary election, fewer than 15% of the registered voters bothered to cast a ballot, according to the Hamilton County Elections Office.

I do understand that we are busy people. We must find time for our jobs, families and other important activities. But what more important civic duty do we have than voting in an election?

If you are a Republican and you are registered to vote, think carefully about this election. There are six candidates for mayor of Fishers. There are races for city clerk and city council. There is only one unopposed candidate, Pete Peterson in Council District 1 (Southeast).

Take the time to find out about the candidates and their positions. Decide which candidates are in line with your vision of what the City of Fishers should be. Don’t make an excuse.


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