Election Day is Tuesday.
Some may consider that pretty inconsequential, as there isn't a national race this year, much less a match-up that had the fervor of the last. But if there ever was year to get out and vote locally, this would be it.
We're in the midst of the most difficult economy in recent memory. People are hurting financially, for jobs, to keep businesses afloat and to just get by. Local governments and schools are struggling to deal with a multitude of cuts and cobble together funds for necessary projects without further burdening taxpayers. Many of the choices officials have to make will have a tangible impact on us.
There are many ideas of change coming to the area: downtown redevelopment projects, getting out of the Montgomery-Otsego-Schoharie Solid Waste Management Authority, the debate about a county manager in Otsego and the demise of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, to name a few. Effective leadership is needed to navigate these controversial issues and others like them.
If that's not incentive enough to pay attention to local politics, this year's election has some unique attributes.
The Oneonta mayoral race features a 21-year-old college student, a 66-year-old former Hartwick College president and a 35-year-old city alderman with a background in environmental issues. Yet in the Democratic primary featuring the student and former college president, voter turnout among Democrats was just 24 percent.
From judges to highway superintendents to town clerks and town supervisors, there are interesting competitions across the counties, the outcomes of which will shape the future of the area.
Many simply drive by all those political signs on the side of the road without a second thought. Many are bored by local politics, seeing it as having little impact on day-to-day life and thinking that things will go on as normal no matter who's in office.
We know that everyone is busy, but we urge people to make time to show pride in the direction that their municipality is headed by supporting the individual best for the job.
Vote now, or forfeit your right to complain later. Apathy is a dangerous thing. As the late educator Robert Maynard Hutchins pointed out, "the death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference and undernourishment."
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