I voted! Have you?

That's what the stickers they gave you when you voted used to say here in Georgia. Now they are a round sticker with a (very dot-blasted and out of register) peach that says "I'm a Georgia Voter". I liked the old ones better.

Seems today, the answer to "Have You?" is a resounding 'NO!' When I voted at about 2 pm, the lady at my precinct told me that I was #31 to cast a ballot there today. Sad. Yeah, it's a run-off with one race on the ballot - for Public Utilities Commissioner. But people don't get it when it comes to politics. They'd rather ensure they educate themselves on the big national races, or state-wide top-of-the-ticket races, than worry about County Commissioners, Public Utility Commissioners, School Board Members....

What the electorate fails to grasp is that these races determine which people get to decide which roads to pave/fix, what the policy regarding natural gas distribution and gasoline taxes should be, and the things our kids learn in school. These decisions impact our daily lives on a fairly dramatic scale. Certainly I care about the war in Iraq, but in a lot of ways, but my daily life is much more affected by dealing with the pothole I have to drive around twice a day on North Decatur Road.

So why is it, then, that elections like this have such poor turnout? Do we not care about what is happening in our very communities?