To say the least, many Americans are skeptical these days when it comes to voting.
Me included. One really has to wonder what good casting a vote does sometimes.
Then there’s the other school of thought that promotes the notions of “your voice needs to be heard” and “you have no right to complain if you don’t put in your two cents.”
Whatever the case, I couldn’t help but notice what appears to be a fairly decent example of voter apathy that took place Nov. 3 here in Texas County. Yep, right here in our own backyard people were sluggish about going to the polls. Imagine that!
It happened in Cabool. No need to send letters about how me or the newspaper are bashing Cabool, because I like the place and I’m pretty sure everyone else in our office does, too.
It’s just that when an issue of whether to extend for another five years a ½-percent transportation sales tax to fund “street improvements, sidewalks and equipment needs” in the city, not many residents seemed to care one way or the other. I think that’s fairly apparent by the fact the measure was approved by a vote of 42-19.
Yep, a total of 61 “Cabool residents” got out and made their desires known on that fateful Tuesday. For Pete’s sake, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there are often that many in the Houston Walmart on a busy Friday evening.
According to the 2010 census, Cabool had a few more residents than Houston at that time – about 2,150.
So the sales tax remained in place thanks to the efforts of about 3-percent of the town’s resident population.
Of course, we must keep in mind that that percentage has to be far higher when calculated among registered voters only, surely approaching a good 7-or-8-percent. But still, El Imperial may well serve chips and salsa this Saturday to more than 61 Cabool residents of voting age.
I’m often reminded of the famous (or maybe infamous) “not that there’s anything wrong with that” episode of Seinfeld, and I am again here. There’s nothing wrong with not voting. It’s a personal choice, and if a person wants to let everyone else decide if a sales tax flies or not, that’s fine.
Obviously, I have no dog in the fight – I just think it’s interesting, that’s all. And hey, maybe everybody who lives in Cabool knew the tax was going to pass, so they simply passed on helping it pass.
Anyway, here’s to the 61 conscientious Caboolites (Caboolions?) who waited in line zero minutes to toss their votes in the hat last week. To the 42 who combined for a lopsided victory with about 69-percent of the vote, I say “way to go.” And to the 19 who valiantly fought against what they perceived as a detriment to their beloved town, I say “nice try.”
The measure only needed a “simple majority” to pass (meaning, of course, it needed one vote above 50-percent of all the votes), and I’d say it got that for sure, because 42-19 is pretty simple. Maybe in the future, some money could be saved by just staging a softball game between “for” and “against” teams instead of rolling out the voting equipment and personnel.
Just sayin’.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.