Democracy Is Stuck In Traffic

The Gods of Irony are enjoying their view right now – watching as the consequences of a failed MARTA referendum, a divisive Legislative Session, and a gross violation of the rights of Gwinnett County voters have all been piled on in just the last couple of months, showing us what happens when the few decide the fate of the many.

With the MARTA referendum, voter turnout clocked in at a mere 92,000 votes cast — compared to more than 300,000 ballots in the recent midterm election cycle, with long, irritating Gwinnett commutes married to widespread voter apathy and election shenanigans the likely culprits. Just over 16% of registered voters voted. That’s less than in the previous 2 SPLOST referendums.
For reasons passing understanding, the Republican punditry has reported the anemic numbers as “a surprisingly big turnout for this kind of election.” While the statement isn’t entirely untrue, it’s a shockingly complacent position on the lack of any general interest in local elections and doesn’t acknowledge the cynically political decision to place the referendum in March, rather than on the November ballot.

The truth is that local elections like the transit referendum, and even state legislative races, typically only register a blip in the minds of voters, which is a betrayal to the hard reality that the majority of governing that affects our daily lives takes place not in Washington, but right here at home. It was not far away leaders in DC that passed one of the most intrusive Anti-Choice bills in the country, stripping women of their rights as individuals; it was not DC Republicans that put the referendum on an off-year March ballot. As Georgian Democrats, we need to be as concerned with energizing local elections as we are in driving primary voters out for the presidential cycle.

That said, it’s a rare opportunity for politicians when we can introduce a measure that will improve people’s lives, strengthen our democracy, and give voice to those who struggle to be heard without it costing a dime. The time has come to make Election Day a holiday as it is the case in other states and many other countries around the world. At a minimum, Gwinnett County should lead by example. That’s precisely what our campaign is proposing: making Election Day a county holiday. As Gwinnett’s next County Chair, instead of celebrating Columbus Day (a day mostly reserved for shopping mall sales, since Columbus neither discovered America nor left a great legacy of his treatment of the indigenous Americans he found) we can have a real celebration of our democracy and still be revenue neutral. What better way to celebrate democracy than to make it work better for everyone?

This proposal works two ways. First, it recognizes the reality of County workers, many of whom are raising children — some of which are single-parent homes where time is always at a premium. Even with the expansion of early voting, these voters struggle for every minute. These are the very people whose voices need to be heard, so making it easier for them to be heard without costing the county anything for that convenience is beyond a no-brainer. Georgia has been taking it on the chin in the press for its voting rights record, so this measure hedges against those criticisms while helping real people.

The second way it works is that it sets an example for private businesses in Gwinnett County to follow suit with an Election Day holiday. This is important because while unemployment has dropped, underemployment — the experience of working hard for less than a living wage — has risen dramatically. These are the people who scoff at the news of all the new jobs being created, because they already have three of them.

In that spirit of bringing more Gwinnettians into the process, let’s work together to ensure that our local democracy–our very rights of self-determination–like our commuter-base, doesn’t end up getting stuck in traffic.