The importance of voting

Dear Editor,

A wise man once told me, “People who don’t vote deserve bad government.”  So I will start off by saying shame on us for not voting.  I will also say that people who do not vote have no reason or right to complain about the decisions of our government.  Those who will not participate and contribute to their self government at the most basic of involvement by voting should expect to be disappointed by our government.

However I believe the greater shame should be upon our elected school board directors with their decision to follow the Chickasaw County Auditor’s recommendation to consolidate our polling station and have only one poling station at the welcome center in Nashua.

Now while voter turn out in the last school district election was dismal, in both districts, 25% of the total voter turnout came from the now closed District 1 (Plainfield) polling center.  District 1 voter turnout was 1/3 of the District 2 (Nashua) polling center.  Statistically those are not terrible numbers and should be interpreted, by any reasonable person who wants to encourage voter turn out, as justification to keep both polling centers open.

I’m willing to give our directors the benefit of the doubt and choose to believe that they made this decision solely based on the Chickasaw County Auditor’s desire to save money.  However, it does appear as though the school board is trying to discourage voter turnout from District 1.  And given that the school board is planning on putting our school district millions of dollars in debt to expand facilities in Nashua while at the same time underutilizing existing facilities in Plainfield, as well as reducing staffing to cut the budget one could surmise that the board is penny wise and pound foolish.

Most likely this letter will anger some and they will resort to calling me names and insinuating things about me again.  But the facts speak for themselves.  Our elected officials are running the school system how they see fit with little regard to the will of the people.  And why should they care what the people want if we cannot even make the effort to vote or inform them of our opinions.

I encourage all eligible voters to vote in the up coming purpose statement vote.  I also encourage us to use this vote as a referendum on the recent decision the school board made to consolidate grades 7 through 12 at the high school and to place the district millions of dollars in debt.

Sincerely

Shawn Geer

Plainfield, Iowa.