Filling out an election ballot isn’t very hard. Ink in the ovals, being careful to stay within the lines, and then turn in the single-sided piece of stiff paper for counting.
It’s not much to ask of residents once a year.
Wrangell holds its municipal elections next Tuesday. And while several races are uncontested, three school board seats and a borough assembly seat will be decided by voters. This is a chance for residents to have a say in the direction of the borough and the school district, which combined spend more than $10 million a year in public funds providing services and education for the community.
That should be reason enough for people to cast a ballot. But Wrangell is coming up short on voter turnout. Maybe it’s apathy, maybe last year it was COVID-19, maybe it’s lack of interest in the candidates or the issues.
Maybe none of those are really good excuses, and this would be a good year to boost participation at the polls. The borough faces several important issues: The need, and the high cost, of rebuilding the rot-damaged Public Safety Building; deciding the future use of the former hospital building; and finding money to pay for needed improvements to the community’s water system. The school district is working to reverse last year’s steep drop in enrollment.
While voters were engaged in last year’s presidential election, with 732 votes cast in Wrangell, the number of ballots marked up for municipal elections has come up far short of that number. Just 483 residents voted in last year’s municipal election, and 406 in 2019. In a community of close to 2,000 residents old enough to vote, those low numbers are nothing to be proud about.
The polls are open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. next Tuesday at the Nolan Center. But if it’s easier or fits your schedule better to vote before next Tuesday, you can come to City Hall between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. today, Friday or Monday to cast your ballot.
If you’re undecided who to vote for, the Sentinel published candidate profiles last week and in today’s newspaper. Radio station KSTK also broadcast candidate interviews, which are available online (as are the Sentinel profiles).
If you missed last week’s Sentinel with its candidate interviews and want to catch up in print, rather than online, just stop by the office and we’ll give you a free copy of last week’s paper. Anything we can do to help boost turnout.
Now it’s up to you.
—Wrangell Sentinel
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