Vote. If you haven’t already taken advantage of the early voting schedule that began on Saturday, Oct. 25, it extends through this Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The closest early voting site for north county is at the Dunkirk fairgrounds. You will have all day on Tuesday, the traditional election day, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. to go to your assigned polling place and vote.

The process is quick and easy, the ballots very clear to read, with trained poll workers there to answer questions and help you out.

You do not need to present ID, your signature must reasonably match the signature on record from your voter registration form. If you have the yellow card that came in the mail, you can present that to make the process even easier.

You will be given a ballot which you fill out behind a screen and put in a folder, your vote will be completely secret. You will take the folder to the voting machine, slide your ballot into the slot, once the machine registers your vote, you are done. Sometimes there are propositions on the back of your ballot, as there will be this time. If any errors occurred on your ballot the machine will signal and not accept until the problem is corrected.

So not counting a possible few-minute wait in line, the whole process shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes, and your vote will be securely and accurately cast.

Given the expanded opportunity of early voting for more than a week, the convenience of several polling places in the county for early voting, and going down to the traditional voting day, the long hours that the poll workers spend to afford everyone a chance to vote, why is voter turnout so low? Especially on “off-years” when the elections consist of local races without state or national candidates.

According to Chautauqua County Election Commissioners Luz Torres and Nacole Ellis, a voter turnout for this current election is expected to be 35%. That isn’t even a percentage of the entire adult population of the county — that is of registered voters! Everyone who took the time to register, which is the process you must complete with the goal of being able to vote, why is it that two-thirds of those who registered don’t bother to vote?

But they complain. Which, by the way, is their First Amendment right. They say their representatives aren’t doing the right things, they don’t care, etc. But why then would you allow only 35% of your fellow voters to decide for you? You can’t really say that whoever got the most votes were elected by a majority, now, can you?

Then we hear complaints about the election system itself. We get “why do we need early voting? More time, more work, more expense.” Well, it’s up to the voters to make use of it, with ample opportunity provided, go vote, you 65%! Then we get, “My vote doesn’t matter anyway”. Yes, it certainly does, especially in local elections where a candidate can win or lose on a single vote, and it happened some years back in a Sheridan race.

The more local the race you are voting on, the more critical your vote becomes. If your town leans more heavily to one party vs the other, you may say the ruling party will never be beaten so why bother. It might be closer than you think.

Last year in Sheridan, for example, of 1984 registered voters, 532 were Democrats, 741 Republicans, and 711 other or unaffiliated. That’s a large non-committed bunch. In local elections, you can get to know the candidates, in many cases they are your friends and neighbors, therefore there should be more voting for the person rather than the party — the one you know will do the best job.

Local government is where you have the most control. One single vote won’t stop the desecration of the White House or release the Epstein Files that Speaker Mike Johnson is holding the government hostage over; or stop the unlawful ICE raids or murder of Venezuelan boaters; but it could elect the mayor or town supervisor who has the vision to make improvements in your town.

That’s what impacts you most, your local community. Local government is the foundation of our representative democratic system. When we see chaos and crumbling in the tower above, we have to keep our foundation strong, with strong local leadership and rules and regulations that are followed. It has to start down here.

Concern for such low voter turnout in local elections prompted the 2023 state Legislature to adopt a law changing many local races to even years to coincide with state and national races, which have consistently brought out more voters. This was opposed by Republicans who felt it would unfairly benefit the Democrats by “driving more voters to the polls”. If that’s what they’re worried about, then Democrats, why aren’t you voting in bigger numbers in the first place? Isn’t that what we want? More participation? A more representative process that reflects a true constituency?

Just on Oct. 16, the state Court of Appeals unanimously ruled the law is constitutional. This means that current candidates who win their races will be shortened a year in their terms. The county executive will serve three years, and the legislators you pick will serve one, and have to campaign again next year. This change will also affect town officials’ races. So with the exception of the county clerk and two county court justices, who will remain on odd years, local elected officials will be elected the same time as the governor and the President of the United States.

Why all this rearranging? Just to make it even easier for you all to come out to vote since it appears that all you are concerned about, except for 35% of you, is who you want for governor or for president. Using Sheridan as an example again, in 2024 when we were voting for Trump or Harris, 1,513 voters turned out. That’s still far shy of the approximately 2,000 in the town. In 2023, when it was just “unimportant” local candidates, only 631 votes were cast.

Of course, civic participation involves more than just voting, but for heaven’s sake, it’s a start! And it’s easy to vote, there’s nothing intimidating at all about it. Vote where your ballot counts the most! Locally! Give your local candidates an actual mandate to represent you. Finish reading your paper, then go vote.

Susan Bigler is a Sheridan resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com