Southside ISD Election may be a victim of voter apathy

Well, just another example of voter apathy, the Southside ISD bond election, which ends today at 6:oopm has had a dismal turnout so far, less than 1% of eligible voters have cast their ballots.

This doesn't surprise me a whole lot because Southside ISD is a minority school district with a high poverty rate.  Most people are just trying to survive and many work long hours.  Their access to information is also limited.   But it's not like the school district hasn't tried to get their attention. 

Jorge Topete, the district's public information officer, said district officials have worked to promote awareness of the election through a public hearing, postings on the district's website and Twitter, announcing election information at a recent football game, visiting local churches, sending information to local businesses and other methods.

The bond won't even effect the tax rate for the district, it just allows them to shift funding around.  So if you know anyone who lives in the district, urge them to go vote!

For information on where to vote check out this post.

Vote Today

It's voting day.  Today decides the who will be the Alamo Community College District Trustees for districts 1 and 7.  Check out the voting sites, just check the links.  Your vote really counts in this election, only 1239 people have voted so far, so check out this article to see who's running.

Does Voting Matter?

Scott Stroud of the San Antonio Express-News believes that if Texans voted more we wouldn't have had the lunatic textbook standards pass that make Texans look like a bunch of right wing zealots. I agree. Most people have no idea who represents them as US Senator, let alone on the State Board of Education, and they certainly don't vote.

The general public gets caught up in Presidential elections, but they don't seem to realize that state and local elections are actually much more critical to their daily lives. It used to be difficult to find out anything about the candidates in the past but now with the Internet there is no excuse for not knowing about elections, candidates and positions. But instead people spend their time reading about Lindsey Lohan's latest drug arrest, or Paris Hilton's latest boy toy. Don't get me wrong, I read the gossip columns too, but I also care about what goes on in my community.

Over and over I hear excuses about voting, the most common being "My vote doesn't really count anyway." But that is so wrong, voter turnouts in state and local elections are SO LOW that every vote counts. IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE TEXTBOOK STANDARDS VOTE IN THE NEXT STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION ELECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!