By Mayor Tammy
A
good number of Meridian residents and citizens from other parts of Ada County
have been showing up at City Hall this past week to vote early. I wanted to thank Ada County Clerk Chris
Rich, Chief Deputy Clerk Phil McGrane, Meridian City Clerk Jaycee Holman - and
their teams – that helped make this happen.
There are two reasons why this is so important.
First,
in Meridian, we are committed to our citizens to making services more
accessible. In previous years if someone desired to vote early it was necessary
to go to Boise to cast your ballot; but not anymore. In my conversation with the County earlier
this week they were pleased with the turnout of voters in this location and it
is my desire, and theirs, that this will become a regular part of the voting
process.
The
second reason this is so important is that we need to make voting easy and
convenient for people so that more people exercise this important right. Voting
is as fundamental as any other liberty afforded to people under the
constitution. As a nation, a great number of men and women have fought long and
hard to protect this right to vote. In
fact, as an American citizen and Meridian resident, your vote is your voice.
This is your opportunity to let your thoughts be known about important issues
to the community and as a way to hold elected officials accountable for our decisions.
On Election Day, every vote matters.
Here
in Meridian and Ada County, much like around the rest of the country, we see
huge swings in voter turnout during Presidential and Congressional elections –
62% in the 2014 election and 73% in the 2012 election. However, during other elections the
attendance for voting drops off dramatically.
The high mark in Meridian was for the last Mayor/Council election in
2011 with 23.6% of eligible voters participating. But in some elections such as for bonds, levies,
special districts, and school board elections turnout can be in the single
percent – as low as 2.89% in one trustee race. As a community we can, and need
to, do better.
That
is why I am asking you to get out and vote on November 3. In addition to the
election for Meridian Mayor and City Council, the West Ada School District is
seeking support of their supplement levy (www.westada.org) and the Meridian
Library District is asking voters to fund the building of a north and south
library branch in Meridian (www.mld.org). These two community partners have a
huge impact on the quality of life here in Meridian. I encourage you to get
educated about the local races and the issues on the ballot.
For
complete election information and forms, please visit the Ada County website at
www.adacountyelections.com where you can see a sample ballot, locate your
polling location for the upcoming election and answer any additional questions
you may have about the voting and the election process. You can also visit www.meridiancity.org for a
link to the candidate’s websites and check out local newspapers to see
responses from the candidates to questions they posed.
We live in a great
community – on November 3rd please share your voice and vote.