Archive: Opinions

Don't they say 'every vote matters'?  They do, but voter turnout in the united States implies that many Americans don't believe their vote counts.  With Donald Trump dominating social media posts and Ithaca and Tompkins County being what they are, it's hard to believe this.  A recent analysis of the 50 states and District of columbia by Wallethub has determined that new York is the 8th least politically engaged state.  New York had the 4th lowest percent of registered voters in the 2016 Presidential election, and the third lowest percentage of midterm election voters in 2014. 

Our country as a whole doesn't do all that well either, ranking only 26th out of 32 member countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).  According to a PEW Research Center report released last May, Belgium had the best voter turnout and Turkey the worst.

In last year's general election Tompkins County non-affiliated voter turnout was 27%, affiliated was 41%, and registered voters totaled 38%.  In Lansing the numbers were somewhat better - 34% non-affiliated, 48% affiliated, and 45% registered voters.  That is considered an off-year.  But in the 2016 presidential election year Tompkins County scored 70% non-affiliated, 80% affiliated, and 78% registered voters, and Lansing voters turned out at 72% non-affiliated, 82% affiliated, and 79% registered voters. Nation-wide, 55.7% of the voting-aged population turned out in 2016.

But despite a higher rate of voter engagement in Lansing, we have had some very close votes in recent years.  In 2007 popular Lansing Town Supervisor Steve Farkas lost to challenger Scott Pinney by 23 votes.  In 2009 Legislator Mike Sigler lost to Pat Pryor 736 to 743, only a seven vote spread.  In 2013 he challenged Pryor again, coming regaining his seat, but by only 33 votes.  Just last year Joe Wetmore defeated incumbent Lansing Town Councilman Robert Cree by three votes.

Some folks said Farkas lost because his yard signs went out late and some people didn't think he was running again.  The Sigler/Pryor races were hard fought by both candidates both times.  All Cree needed to keep his seat was four more voters.  Voter turnout surely impacted those and all our local elections.  If one side or the other had just rallied a few more people... What would a 100% voter turnout have looked like?  We'll never know.

This year the two races that impact Lansing folks most locally are for Town Justice and Sheriff.  if you're just not feeling it on November 6th.  If you planned to vote but just don't feel like getting off the couch when the time comes... remember this -- every vote mattered in the Cree-Wetmore, Sigler-Pryor, and Farkas-Pinney races.

All of our votes actually do matter.

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