Today?s N&O features a front page map that shows the school
board member districts with the election turnout results in each of the four
district seats that were up for election. The N&O laments that the election
hinged on a small number of voters living in four districts that
appeared on the ballot. But the impact will be felt across Wake County as the
three victors are opposed to the board’s diversity policy and in favor of
neighborhood schools.
The N&O data show that that turnout percentage ranged
from a high of 14.8 percent in District 9 to a low of 9.3 percent in District
2.
I don’t recall a similar comment after the 2007 city council
race where the turnout for at-large races was a miserable 8 percent and the two
winning candidates won with less than 5 percent of the registered voters. It seems that low turnout is only
“news” when the election goes against the editorial policy of the
paper.
If the N&O was really concerned about boosting turnout,
it would support partisan school board elections and reschedule them to
coincide with state and national elections.
