The sleepiest elections have the greatest impacton your everyday life. And we are currently snoozing through early voting for City Council and school board trustees. Today, May 2, is the last day for you to go to the polls.
There aren’t any big-ticket races. Mayor Eric Johnson is running unopposed. He’s giving away yard signs and spending money on a highly produced 15-minute short documentary about what he’s calling the “Dallas Miracle.” Two districts feature vacancies because of term limits: District 10, in Lake Highlands, and District 3, in southwest Dallas. Adam McGough and Casey Thomas have served their eight years, respectively.
Through Monday, 50,687 people have voted in Dallas County. That means just 3.6 percent of the nearly 1.4 million registered voters have gone to the polls. Yikes.
It’s on par with recent history.
The last municipal election, in May 2021, attracted just 10 percent of registered voters. Which is kind of impressive, considering the closely watched mayoral race of 2019 matched that turnout. Generally, Election Day will attract around the same amount of voters who showed up early. We aren’t on pace to match the measly turnout from two years ago.
My colleague Bethany Erickson put together a voter’s guide to introduce you to the folks who are running to represent your interests. As she notes, this rotgut turnout “means a great deal of the councils and boards of trustees in cities and districts inside Dallas County were picked by very few people.”
Few people are deciding on policy that informs how much money the police department gets and how those dollars are spent. It informs which projects go into the bond package that we’ll vote on next year. It informs which streets and sidewalks get fixed and which don’t. It even informs the future of major highways, like Interstates 30 and 345.
You don’t always see an impact from state legislators and congressional representatives. The folks who go to 1500 Marilla every day can make changes that affect your day-to-day. I love local government for the same reason I love local news: this stuff matters today. But it only matters if you engage with it.
Read Bethany’s guide here, and find your closest voting place here. You can vote at any of them. Find your City Council district here, and here’s how to find your school board trustee. The polls are open today until 7 p.m. Election Day is May 6, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
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