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

[todd glassey]

Most of the low turnout in school board elections is based in that people
have no attachment to their schools. They likely do their domains. So a 3%
turnout of a real membership list, as opposed to those that subscribed and
then turned to dust is not so good in my book.

The real question to answer is what percentage of the actually participating
membership is voting.

Todd

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Love" <james.love at cptech.org>
To: "Kent Crispin" <kent at songbird.com>; "NCDNHC-discuss list"
<discuss at icann-ncc.org>
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 2:03 PM
Subject: Re: [ncdnhc-discuss] Voter turnout in Michigan school board
elections


> 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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> :
> :
>
>
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