EDITORIAL
In 1980,—the first Rockdale City Council election with a mayor’s race under the new city charter—the turnout was 515.
That was termed “extremely light.”
Thirty-six years later, in 2016, the most recent council race with a contested mayoral ballot, before this year’s, the turnout was 528.
By then, such a turnout was considered pretty okay for Rockdale.
What happened?
That’s simple. City of Rockdale voters, for whatever reason, stopped turning out in the numbers they once had.
It’s easy to see why 515 was considered extremely light in 1980. In the three council elections from 1976 to 1978, whether or not there was a contested mayoral race, the average turnout was 1,301.
Average turnout for the past three contested mayoral elections—2004, 2010 and 2013—was
670. Just over half.
Rockdale probably had about the same population toward the end of the 1970s as it had in the first decade of the 21st Century, but those kind of solid statistics are very hard to come by. Even though populations may have been roughly the same, there’s no doubt a different set of economic dynamics was present in the two eras.
Nevertheless, the trend of declining participation is there. It’s pretty hard to ignore that the 2007 city ballot, which didn’t even have a citywide race, drew 621 Rockdale residents to the polls, quite a few more than those who voted in the next two elections, both of which had contested mayoral contests, our last ones until this year.
That would be 552 in 2010 and 528 in 2013. Why focus on mayoral races? They draw voters citywide, from both wards.
Now, it’s true that during the early 1980s, Texas municipal and school elections changed from the first Saturday in April to the first Saturday in May. It’s also true that it’s hard to find any kind of turnout pattern that depends on when the election is held.
All three of those 1,000-plus turnout elections were held in April, true. But it’s also true that the next biggest turnout, 927, was in 2004, a year in which the May ballot tradition had been long-established.
What’s also perplexing about the post-millennium decline is that it’s much easier to cast a ballot now than in the 1970s.
In that era you got one shot to vote—election day. For much of this decade there’s been an extensive early-voting period that lets you cast a ballot at your convenience.
What’s the answer? We don’t have one except to muse that when people are sufficiently motivated to vote they will do it, regardless of how difficult, or how easy, the task is.
What’s the solution? Just go do it. Sure would be nice to see Rockdale’s turnout in 2019 increase by at least a couple of hundred voters.—M.B.
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