Well, the results are in and while we saw a lot of incumbents retain their positions, we also saw some change locally and few positions where we couldn’t come to a decision.
All that aside, I don’t really feel like talking about the results of the elections this week. What I would like to talk about is the disturbing lack of voter turnout in this county.
The numbers are just straight up embarrassing.
10,811 total ballots cast is less than 25 percent of Mississippi County’s total population and isn’t even the total population of Blytheville.
These are not winning numbers, people. How can you expect your voices to be heard if you don’t get out and vote. If voting was a test in school then Mississippi County got an “F”.
Gosnell has a population of just over 3,000 people and yet only 669 people voted in the Gosnell Mayoral race, which is again less than 25 percent of the population.
Now, I don’t have the numbers for the amount of registered voters in Gosnell, but I have to believe it is more than 20.4 percent.
For the past couple of weeks I have been writing about how it was the responsibility of every citizen to get out and vote and it doesn’t seem like very many of you have been listening.
DO NOT THINK THAT YOUR VOTE DOES NOT MATTER.
Local elections don’t have an electoral college, the guy who gets the most votes wins.
We have several run-off elections coming up very soon in Mississippi County. Gosnell City Council, Gosnell Mayor, Luxora City Council Ward 2, Position 1 and Manila City Council Ward 3, Position 2 will all be decided by those who go and vote between November 27 and December 4.
If you live in those districts it is your duty that you go and count yourself among those who decide by casting your vote.
Run-offs always have a low voter turnout and given how low the turnout was for the regular election, it seems possible these positions could be decided by fewer than 100 people if you don’t get out and vote.
I know that holidays are starting and everyone will be busy, especially when December begins, but I don’t want to hear those excuses.
These are important decisions being made, the people who govern the place that you live for the foreseeable future is more important than whose house is hosting Christmas dinner.
I hope that people will make that connection and go to the polls when the time comes because if they don’t then they shouldn’t be allowed to complain when they don’t like how things are being run in their city.
gwilliams@blythevillecourier.com