“My mom is the most powerful woman in the world,” I often say with a suppressed smile.
Of course, this isn’t exactly true. But in my hometown, my mom’s activism and service have gone a long way. She has effected much good — in my town and in its sister city of Uzhhorod, Ukraine, for example — and the ripples spread outward from there.
I share this to highlight the impact each one of us can have in our towns, schools and communities, particularly at the local level.
I remember when a proposal to change bus routes would have required middle schoolers to cross a busy, high-speed roadway. Parents, some toting young children, took to the school parking lot, gathering signatures from other parents as they dropped their kids off at school. They gathered enough signatures and raised sufficient protest that the proposal was dropped — an example of how to make a difference at a local level.
We know most of us do not have the sphere of influence of a governor or senator or president. But each can effect small change at our local level. “All politics is local,” former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill famously said. He was right.
Why then, don’t we embrace the power that we could have in local elections? An average of only 27% of eligible voters vote in local elections. For a recent round of mayoral elections in America’s 30 largest cities, turnout of eligible citizens in 15 of them was less than 20%. And the National School Boards Association estimates that turnout for local school board elections is no more than 5-10%.
Because voter turnout is so low, those who do vote in local elections — the demographic is older, whiter, more conservative and wealthier than the usual voting population — have an outsized impact. While tens of millions vote in presidential elections, local elections are often decided by single- or double-digit numbers, as attested in this NPR report.
Once elected, local officials are more likely to listen to those they also see at the neighborhood grocery store, church and schools. One of the most significant ways to influence politicians is to reach them through their social networks. Many of us are just not going to have a lot of social influence on the president, governor or members of Congress. But we are much more likely to reach our local leaders in this manner.
We abdicate our local elections at our own peril. Much of the government that affects our daily lives — the services and programs we rely on every day — is handled at the local level. Municipalities — cities, towns, boroughs, villages and townships — are responsible for schools, public safety (police, fire, paramedics), parks and recreation services, housing, municipal courts, transportation and public works. They also determine how new businesses are developed.
Altogether, nearly $2 trillion dollars is administered by local governments, including city councils, county officials and school boards. “When you vote locally, you choose the leaders who will decide about the place you call home,” says the Arizona Clean Elections website.
There is another important reason to vote locally. Big changes — particularly education reform, environmental initiatives and public health policies — can start locally. Voting at the local level may help set in place a political pipeline that sets the stage for broader changes you want to see.
In her book "Turning to One Another," management consultant Margaret J. Wheatley suggests that making government better — and by extension, our lives — emerges from the passion and efforts expressed at the local level. “There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about,” she wrote.
Voting in local elections is the best way to make our community’s wishes concrete. This season, let’s remember that voting is how we figure out what matters — and we make that priority known to and through our political representatives.