Rock the Vote: Exercising Voter Power

About now, after the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, President Joe Biden dropping out of the race, and chaos sure to ensue in coming weeks, the temptation is to throw up our hands, say, “What’s the use?” and mentally check out of November’s election.

That would be a mistake. Not because of who’s on the presidential ballot, but because of all the other city, county and state candidates and issues that will be decided by voters on Nov. 5.

A failure to participate is throwing away one’s right to exercise power. In a day when it seems we the people are more powerless than ever, it’s always good to receive a fresh reminder the system can work.

Voters’ Power

One reason for my optimism was the resounding “no” voters in our area delivered to a special school levy proposal during the mid-May primary.

Beset with financial difficulties, the school system decided to balance its books by slashing funds allocated to the library system and park board under a proposed levy due to take effect in 2025.

Because of a quirk that few knew existed, the special levy that helps fund schools includes stipends for libraries and parks. But the school board alone determines the allocations.

Originally, they proposed slashing the library’s revenue under the new levy below $200,000, compared to $1.7 million previously. Once receiving $455,000, the park board would get zero.

Citizen Activism

After a hue and cry from citizens, the school board relented—some. It decided the libraries could have $1.4 million and the park board, $200,000.

That didn’t satisfy the public. A “no parks, no libraries, no levy” group sprang up on Facebook. Soon yard signs appeared across town.

Instead of compromising, the school system doubled down by taking the dispute to the West Virginia Supreme Court.

As expected, based on a legal precedent set years earlier, the school board secured a ruling that it had sole authority to set the levy amounts each agency would receive—if approved by the voters.

It was a textbook example of winning the battle and losing the war.

Granted, the sane solution is a separate levy for libraries and parks. But setting up that takes time and the school levy runs for five years.

Since the school board was facing a potential loss of $30.5 million, it struck me as reasonable to continue the libraries’ and parks’ allocations while working towards a new system.

Tough Choices

Given the situation, after weighing the alternatives, I decided to vote against the levy. I found it telling that at a forum just before the primary, two of three school board candidates present recommended voting no.

Since we were going to be out of town the week of the primary, we cast our vote early, grateful for this option over the cumbersome absentee ballot process.

However, the morning after election day, I jumped on my Kindle Fire tablet to see the special levy had failed by a 64-36% margin. That marked the first time in six decades voters had rejected such a levy.

Two interesting developments followed.

First, on the verge of needing to draw up a new proposal, the superintendent resigned and took a job on the other side of the state.

Second, with a new superintendent overseeing the process, the school board advanced a new proposal. It will see the libraries and parks each receiving approximately $175,000 more than under the current levy.

As the new superintendent said after taking office: “The voters have spoken.” Indeed they did, and it was a thing of beauty. Democracy has its upside.