Myron Pitts: Voters, exercise your power in Fayetteville City Council, primary elections
Today is voting day, at least for those who have not cast their ballots already during early voting, i.e. one-stop voting.
Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.
Today is the first round of City Council elections and a primary for partisan elections. The final council elections and second partisan primary are July 26. The general, midterm election is Nov. 8.
A little over 14,000 people cast ballots during the early voting period in Cumberland County from April 28 to May 14, according to figures from the Cumberland County Board of Elections.
“We almost doubled the 2018 primary,” says Ted Mohn, a former city councilman who keeps close track of elections and voting trends in our county.
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Among races on the ballot are most City Council seats and the mayoral race. There are also primary races for Congressional, statewide, county seats and judges’ seats.
I do not tell people: “If you don’t vote, don’t complain.”
I understand why people say that, of course. But the plain truth is that our right to free speech is not in any way dependent on whether we vote.
I would say rather that our vote is the most powerful thing most of us have to affect change — especially for the vast majority of us who are not ultra-wealthy, powerful or otherwise influential. I have yet to hear a good reason to throw away the power of the vote — though I have heard many phony excuses.
Think about it: People and organizations are spending billions, collectively, to get your vote — OR to get you not to vote, because that goes on, too.
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People don’t spend billions on things that have no value.
In short, don’t let others care more about your own vote than you do.
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Check the Cumberland County Board of Elections website to find your voting precinct and more information. You can print out or look at a sample ballot just like the one you will eventually use to vote.
Our team of reporters will be following several races and fayobserver.com will be updated with the latest results as they come in.
At fayobserver.com, we have writeups on the races and election 2022 voter guides, where candidates filled out questionnaires. Also, videos of City Council candidate forums, which I helped moderate, are available at The Fayetteville Observer Facebook page.
Study up — and exercise your power.
Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Myron Pitts: Voters, exercise your power in Fayetteville elections
