Did you know that only 49% of eligible voters in legislative district 33 are registered to vote? The district that encompasses Idaho Falls proper has one of the lowest rates of voter registration in the state.
When we talk about “half the country” voted for something, the reality is that half the people who turned out in an election voted for it. In reality, when we talk about the so-called landslide in the last presidential election, only about 32% of eligible voters actually cast a vote for this administration and the policies they’re enacting.
And when we talk about the character of Idaho Falls or Bonneville County based on votes for a candidate, we’re talking about a sliver of the population. My goodness, we often have less than 20% voter turnout (that’s people who are registered to vote, and not even people eligible to vote) for school board elections.
The policies that impact our health, education and daily lives are being determined by the people who show up consistently — and that means that less than 1/3 of the population is setting the agenda for the rest of us.
So, why aren’t people involved? In my conversations with people in our community, it comes down to the fact that there’s a general feeling that a vote doesn’t matter.
But here’s the thing. It does.
Sure, the Electoral College means that your vote is somewhat diluted when we’re talking about a presidential election. But realistically, you’re not going to be able to sway a president’s agenda anyway. We can barely get our elected Congresspeople to listen to us.
At the local level, though, things are different. One vote truly matters. Just ask the candidates in the 2023 D91 school board race, where a seat was decided by one vote. Ask state legislators around the state who are in their seats due to less than 100 votes.
We become obsessed with national politics. The “sexy” races that seem big and important. And we fixate so much on those races — and the fact that our influence over the outcome is so small — that we assume that it’s just not worth it.
However, there are elections every year. This year we’re voting for mayor and city council. There was a library board spot up for election in Bonneville County during the May election this year. Next year, there isn’t a presidential election, but every single one of our state legislators are up for election. And these are the elections that determine whether our neighborhood schools are funded, whether we have access to healthcare and whether we can afford our housing.
The Bonneville Democrats are putting together a voter registration drive. You can register to vote at most rallies and community events, and we are sending targeted mailings encouraging community members to register.
It’s time to join the conversation. Because right now our elected officials feel like they can ignore us because we’re not even registered to vote, so we can’t kick them out of office.
Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer, speaker and podcaster. She is the vice chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.