-Isms: Views on life in rural America

Is it good or bad that between 40 and 50% of voters turned out for the May primary election?

While the number seems above average for a mid-term election, it’s still concerning that more than half of our state’s residents did not vote. When you consider options voters have to check the box before or on Election Day, whether via an early-voting ballot or at the poll, the number is disheartening.

According to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s office, 396,000 Nebraskans voted. Overall, that’s approximately 32% of the 1.2 million registered voters in this state.

Yet, that rate is the highest it has been for mid-terms in nearly 30 years.

A year before Dad died, we were talking about the presidential elections he had voted in. He could name both candidates and whom he voted for. He missed voting in the 2020 election, due to the pandemic. Otherwise, he had not missed an election since his youth.

I never take a vote lightly. I have not missed casting a ballot since I turned 18. Like father, like daughter.

Sure, I get tired of listening to the attacks candidates make in prime-time advertisements. I can undertand why some voters may tune out; however, that should not mean you tune out when it is time to mark the ballot.

For me, I think about the sacrifices others have made so I still have the opportunity to perform civic duty. I especially think about my grandfather, who served in World War I, in France. The more I have read about the fighting then, I believe he was lucky to return home.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis is correct when he said, “The most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen.”

If you are not registered to vote, contact the county clerk and find out what steps are required to register.

If you are registered, start researching issues up for consideration in November. Then, be prepared to visit the poll in November.

If you voted last week, good for you. Keep up the good work.

Without an informed citizenry, our country - on a local and national level - may face challenges we are not prepared for.