Do a majority of Iola’s registered voters really believe in democracy?
Well, of course they do — but it isn’t a silly question. The Register printed 3,000 ballots for last Tuesday’s advisory vote on the size of the new city governing body. There were only 650 ballots cast. The rest were returned to the Register and will be made into scratch pads. Pretty expensive scratch bads. The ballots cost taxpayers $785.20 to print.
What these numbers mean is that each of us who bothered to cast a ballot actually made a decision for more than three other registered voters who did not.
So, do we voters owe non-voters a thank you for having confidence in us? Or should we shame our fingers at them for staying home when voting takes so little trouble?
Those who kept the “I voted sticker” should paste it to the middle of their foreheads as a badge of honor: they earned the right to celebrate or complain about the the decision that such a small percentage of the adult population made for the rest of the community.
The stickerless masses should be very quiet on the subject.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
