Speaking Personally: Please- don’t hold your nose and vote

In my travels across the county this election season, the question I’m answering the most is not WHO the candidates are, but instead- HOW to vote. 

 

Two of our most interesting races this year are school board elections. These are first-past-the-post elections, which means that no one candidate is running against another. A majority of votes is not necessary. Simply, in both Willow Springs and West Plains, the three candidates who get the most votes will get the job. 

 

That’s it.

 

There are no geographical boundaries or wards at play, except the district boundaries themselves. Incumbents are not running to keep their own seats. They are all vying for any seat. 

 

And even though there are plenty of candidates in each race – six in Willow and five in West Plains—I’ve heard too many readers say they’ll just have to “hold their nose and vote.”

 

If you’ll allow me to dust off my political science degree a moment, I’d like to explain why in school board races, we should never “hold our nose and vote.”

 

When voting for school board this April, all registered voters have three votes, but what you may not realize that you do not have to cast all three of your votes, and if you’re not strongly in support of three candidates, I don’t think you should vote for three. 

 

The ballot will say (VOTE FOR THREE), but they won’t throw your ballot away if you take my advice about voting strategically. It’s called “undervoting,” and it’s my advice to the “hold your nose” crowd. 

 

Think about the math- if you give a vote to your third-favorite candidate, you may well knock your top pick out of the seat. School board races have come down to just a few votes several times in the last six years, and once we even had a dead-even tie. That race was decided by a coin flip. 

 

Allow me to say that again for dramatic effect- school board races in this county can be so close that we recently had one decided by the literal flip of a coin.

 

If there’s one thing we all learned about school boards last year, it’s that those positions are more than a rubber stamp. These candidates are volunteering to oversee ten of millions of dollars in tax money and make decisions that impact the children of this county. We’re asking a lot of them. 

 

The least we can do, as voters, is cast votes in a strategic way. Each vote is weighty. These jobs are far too important to rely on the flip of a coin. The kids deserve adults who show up and vote smart.  

If you’re jazzed about three school board candidates, by all means – vote for three.

 

If you’re not stark, raving mad for a candidate, they shouldn’t get your vote. 

 

Get to the polls April 7. Check out the next edition of Howell County News for polling locations and sample ballots.