Voting for Local Republicans in the Age of Trump

THE DONALD EFFECT

In Abington politics, Donald Trump certainly may be the elephant in the room that is influencing recent voter behavior--but does he even factor into local issues?

We are about to embark on commissioner races for Abington Township Commissioners in Wards 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, & 15. There will also be School Board seats open on what is currently occupied by 9 Democrats. Some of these seats may not even have Republican challengers to Democratic incumbents because of the toxic environment that exists when someone declares publicly that they are Republican. Is this fair in a democratic society where people are free to worship as they choose, love as they want, and vote with their own mind. But do they?

HOW VOTERS VOTE

Of course that sounds like a reasonable response; however, the numbers do not support the voting facts. If you look at November election results for 2016, 2017, and 2018, you will see that Abington votes for Democratic candidates by a 2 to 1 margin over Republican candidates. If you also look at voter registrations, you will see that Abington Township has a voter registration margin of about 2 Democratic voters for each Republican voter. Some Wards such as Ward 3 have a larger concentration of Republicans when compared to Ward 14 in Roslyn that has practically no Republicans.

Whether voters want to acknowledge it or not--they vote the party that they are registered with. Voter turnout, the number of voters in a particular party that actually show up to vote on election day, is what influences how close races may be. If we are all so open-minded, then why don't we consider candidates from the other party? Let's examine some of the dynamics:

1. Some people are just very far Left or very far Right--these people cannot and will not see past issues that trigger them; such as gun rights, abortion, same-sex rights, and the like are the hot button issues that influence how they vote.
2. National Issues--sometimes an unpopular president, and we always seem to have one, is enough to make voters punish every candidate on the slate.
3. Uninformed Voters--it is very difficult in the internet age to obtain information about local candidates. The outlets such as social media can be toxic or paper mail can be ineffective. Unless the candidate knocks on your door, which can be startling in an era where most people don't want to be bothered at home, then you really have no idea who you are voting for. Many people in this situation actually go to the polls and choose no candidate for many local offices.
4. Non-Voters--some of the most motivated people simply stay home because they feel like their votes will not make a difference.

WHAT'S AT STAKE WITH VOTER INERTIA

So what are the implications of voting your party and not considering the other party's candidates? One party holding all of the elected official seats. This can be problematic. It may be novel at first, but ultimately you have to ask whether some of the local hot topics are the effect of this:

1. Public school sells naming rights to the school and having it unanimously approved without any public debate;
2. Zoning rules rewritten essentially making zoning rules no longer mattering. Developers want to build apartments on cliffs inaccessible by fire trucks, giant condo complexes may be built on land designated for recreational use, and countless other possibilities like selling parks, churches, and anything else to build anything developers want.
3. Taxes increased without any public scrutiny as to whether the government even needs the extra money--who's looking?

I am sure there are numerous other possibilities--we see it in Philadelphia on a daily basis. Many of my neighbors moved to Abington to escape failing schools, high taxes, and poor services--yet continue to vote as if they still live in the city.

THE INDEPENDENT VOTERS

Non-partisan, or independent, voters seem to break the same 2 to 1 split as the Democratic to Republican voters do. I am not sure if independent voters are really splitting their tickets or just don't want to publicly disclose their voting preferences by associating with a party. Registering "non-partisan" is an easy way to mask your voting preferences. I do believe some are truly open-minded people, who probably split their ticket; however, because of the secrecy of our ballots is protected, this is all just speculation based on analyzing the results and registrations.

WHERE ABINGTON REPUBLICANS AND DEMOCRATS ALIGN

I have worked the polls for almost 5 years in different capacities and I can tell you by talking with so many people that they are generally in agreement about many, many local issues. Here are some that come to mind:

• Parks just suck compared to other suburbs--plain and simple, our resources are outdated and need repair, but resources seem to only put band aids on aged infrastructure;
• Trash collection is too complicated--there are too many bins, too hard to throw out large items, no single-stream recycling, and collections not as frequent as other places;
• Schools are good, but administration does not want to hear any complaints;
• Decisions about the Schools are made behind closed doors without input from teachers, parents, or students;
• People without kids in the public schools don't have a voice yet must pay their growing school taxes-they do so because residents generally want to see their neighbors' kids get a good education.
• Environmentally, people wonder whether our drinking water is safe, is water runoff being managed, are all of the dying trees becoming a hazard, and are the various bug spray events toxic to our families and wild life;
• Taxes are high for many of the homes when compared by square footage, can be 4 times as high as comparable houses in the city;
• We keep spending less and less money on police--do they have all of the resources that they need?

There are so many more... but in this list, do you see anything about abortion, gun rights, healthcare or equality? Of course not, because locally PEOPLE CARE ABOUT WHAT MATTERS WHERE THEY LIVE. These other issues are there to divide people up into battle groups or tribes and then politicians hope that we all vote according to party lines. When that happens, they can predict who will win and the public officials can dole out jobs, contracts, and make decisions about tens of millions of dollars worth of your tax dollars.

WHAT NEXT?

My hope is that you have read to the end of this article and consider a few things--like finding out more about your local candidates, look at candidates in all parties before casting your ballots, and maybe even become inclined to run for office yourself.