[ncdnhc-discuss] Voter turnout in Michigan school board elections

[James Love]

Ken.  Like everyone else, I like high voter turn out, like I like a sunny
day.  But what is your basis for saying a particular percentage is
acceptable for the CIRA?

3 or 4 percent of all domain owners might be high enough.   I personally
don't vote much in local school board elections.  If they wanted to double
my taxes, or if there was a problem with the religious right running, I pay
more attention.

Democratic structures have shortcomings.  So do alternatives to democratic
structures.

I think the data on school board elections is instructive.  Schools are
important, but turn-out is often low.  Are you suggesting they eliminate
school board elections?    If they did, would they replace school boards
with an ICANN like structure, or have some other election officals make the
appontments?

Jamie

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kent Crispin" <kent at songbird.com>
To: "NCDNHC-discuss list" <discuss at icann-ncc.org>
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 4:29 PM
Subject: Re: [ncdnhc-discuss] Voter turnout in Michigan school board
elections


: On Fri, Jun 07, 2002 at 03:28:32PM -0400, James Love wrote:
: > "In almost half of Michigan school districts fewer than 5% of eligible
: > voters participated in the 2000 school board election"
: >
: > http://www.epc.msu.edu/publications/databrief/databrief5.pdf
: >
: > Voter turnout averaged 7.8% in school board elections in 2000. Turnout
: > ranged from .3% to 60% of registered voters. In almost half of Michigan
: > school districts fewer than 5% of eligible voters participated in the
2000
: > school board election. Three-quarters of dis tricts had turnouts of 10%
or
: > less.  Not all eligible citizens register to vote, so the percentage of
: > eligible citizens voting in school board elections is even lower than
the
: > 7.8% turnout among registered voters.
:
: Thanks -- this is a document I can cite later.  At the very beginning it
: says:
:
:   School board members are democratically accountable to the voters in
:   their communities.  If citizens are unhappy with the performance of
:   their schools, they can elect a new board.  Unfortunately, Michigan
:   has historically had very low voter turnouts for school board
:   elections.  Low turnouts reduce the effectiveness of school board
:   elections as a mechanism for democratic accountability.  When only a
:   few people vote, school board members are only held accountable by
:   those few rather than by the larger community.  Low voter turnouts
:   also increase the likelihood that a small group with a special agenda
:   will be able to swing a school board election.
:
: The last line bears repeating, since it is so germane to our situation.
: It says:
:
:   "Low voter turnouts also increase the likelihood that a small group
:   with a special agenda will be able to swing a school board election."
:
: --
: Kent Crispin                               "Be good, and you will be
: kent at songbird.com                          lonesome."  -- Mark Twain
:
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