Letter to the Editor: Voting is the only way

As I write this, the citywide elections for city council, mayor, and school board are just six weeks away. The candidates are set, save for anyone who wishes to run as a write-in, and we the people of Newton, will once again be given the opportunity to choose who we want to lead our community and schools.

And based upon the number and nature of some of the comments posted on the Newton government and Newton Daily News Facebook pages, many around here have very strong opinions about how our city and schools are being managed.

And based upon that, you would think that our local elections would have a pretty good turnout of voters who want to turn their opinions into votes.

You’d think that, but you’d be wrong.

The past few local elections have seen pretty pathetic voter turnout rates, usually well below 20 percent.

I have no idea why this is, unless we are a community that loves to gripe and complain, yet when it comes time to make a real difference we find excuses to sit out the elections. Too busy, don’t care about politics, why bother because nothing ever changes, etc., ...To put it nicely, those are really lame excuses.

Now, I’m not so naive as to think that we’ll ever see anything close to 100% voter turnout for these elections. People just aren’t like that.

But I refuse to just give up on our community and accept that we’ll just plod along as always, allowing a minuscule minority to decide for us who will lead our city and schools.

If you are happy with the way things are being handled here, get out and vote to retain whoever you think is doing a good job.

If you are unhappy about what you have seen and want things to change, then get out and vote for the person you believe will shake things up.

Either way, it’s our civic duty to be active participants in our own community and government.

Online complaints, which are acceptable expressions of free speech, are a waste of time because no one cares about someone’s opinion on social media sites. They affect nothing in the real world. Voting is the only way to send the message you want to send.

Make a real difference in the real world and be sure to get out and vote on Nov. 4.

John Moore

Newton