Published Oct. 4, 2004, in the Kirksville Daily Express

Column by Matthew Webber

The 34-percent voter turnout in Adair County in Tuesday’s primary election is both encouraging and discouraging.

Tuesday’s above-average turnout indicates that Adair County residents are more engaged in local and state political issues than normal. Citizens are informed, passionate and willing to do their civic duty and vote, and this can only be seen as a positive development in democracy.

Perhaps Tuesday’s controversial gay marriage and Rockaway Beach casino amendments drew a lot of people to the polls who wouldn’t have been there otherwise.

Other voters, especially Democrats, may have turned up in higher numbers to support their gubernatorial candidates in the preview to what promises to be a tight and hard-fought November race.

Whatever the reason for the voter increase, I want to applaud those who voted — whether you always or seldom do — for voicing your opinions and being responsible citizens, no matter for what or whom you voted.

You had your opinions, and you expressed them as you should. Others forfeited their chance to voice theirs.

What was discouraging about the 34-percent turnout is how small a percentage of voters this is. Sadly, not even a simple majority of voters went to the polls.

There are always excuses not to vote. Sometimes it does seem like any one person is powerless to change the wills of people who have more money, family ties and power than we do.

Sometimes, I admit, voting indeed seems futile, especially when your candidate or issue loses.

However, what people who don’t vote fail to realize is the fewer people vote, the fewer voices are represented in government.

Voter apathy is a key reason special interests — however you define the term — supposedly hold such sway in elections. Members of any interest group donate money — and they can be counted on to vote — thereby tilting the results in their favor.

Most politicians try to do the will of the people, but they can only do the will that they hear.

If you don’t vote, politicians can’t hear you. If you do not vote, you cannot provide a counter-voice to those who do, especially any interest groups you feel exert their undue influence into the political process.

Although a famous list of elections won by one vote is a falsified urban legend, the fact is elections have been won and lost by one vote, especially at the local level. That one deciding vote could have been mine or yours.

I hope this higher-turnout trend will continue in November, when voters can decide other important local, state and even national issues, including who will be president.

In such a close — and some say divisive — presidential race, every last vote will matter. Whoever wins the presidency will inherit a troubled economy, a continued war on terror and a couple of possible Supreme Court appointments. This president’s actions will resonate internationally for years.

In Missouri, newly elected officials will also try to recover a troubled economy, as the state continues its shift from an agriculture-based economy to one increasingly dependent on industry and technology. Also at stake are education and health care.

You may feel your candidate is the best-equipped to handle the job — but if you don’t vote for him, the other guy might win.

For some, this may have happened Monday.

If so, get to the polls and make sure it doesn’t happen again. In the next election, we should not be so proud of a 34-percent turnout.