Electile Dysfunction proudly hosts the inaugural campaign of the Voter Activism Project. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, the V.A.P. proposes a strategy to educate, encourage, and empower the voter /potential voter through community outreach, registration efforts; concise, pertinent information dissemination; functional education of the local , state, and national political systems as well as coalition-building that amplifies the efforts of the individual voter. The target demographic observed in this project is adults ages 18-24. This 5-week (at the shortest) project ends with the culmination of the Montgomery, AL mayoral /council race, (General Election on August 25; Run-Off Election on October 6)
INCUMBENTS A NO-SHOW AT PUBLIC FORUM
Incumbents were a no show Monday evening, August 10th (except District 8 Councilman Glenn Pruitt, who observed, he is unopposed) at the City Council Candidate Forum. The forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters and held at the Montgomery City County Public Library. This is not unusual according to League President Louvenia Graham, who said the Delta Sigma Theta forum received the same slight by the incumbents on August 5th, . Graham said the promotion of the forum was social media based. There was a direct link on the league’s Facebook page and emails were sent directly to all of the candidates, including the incumbents.
Participants from the Montgomery Alabama Voter Activism Project (MAVAP) interviewed city council candidates from districts 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 about the candidacy and their plans that would interest young voters 18-24. Participants talked to a majority of the candidates during the forum about their plans, platform and promises, however, the men who currently hold those council seats did not see the need to attend.
When a MAVAP participant asked why he did not attend the forum, District 4 Councilman David Burkette said “Ma’am I don’t think you should be questioning me on where I was last night ,Thank You”. When asked by a MAVAP participant why he was not in attendance, District 3 Councilman Tracy Larkin said “I was not aware of the forum”. District 5 Councilman C.C. Calhoun said he had a prior engagement and did not RSVP, while District 6 Councilman Jon Dow said he had campaign meetings to attend. The project could not reach District 7 Councilman Arch Lee.
MAVAP is designed to increase awareness and understanding of municipal government, increase participation in voter education projects and increase voter turnout among young voting age adults (18-24) in five contiguous city council districts in the 2015 Montgomery Municipal Election. Participants became aware and understood, firsthand, the first failing of apathy, disconnected representation.
A study of 4,000 cities reveals that certain institutions create low-turnout environments and are associated with increased reelection rates for city councilors and decreased responsiveness to the general electorate. Cities with low-turnout environments have spending patterns that benefit particular subgroups in the population who have good reason to overcome high participation costs. These findings indicate that incumbents can benefit from institutional structures that enhance the probability of reelection regardless of their performance as representatives. According to the study, compared with high-turnout municipal elections, low-turnout elections tend to produce electorates that are whiter, wealthier, older, and better educated.
Incumbents in this kind of environment have the tendency to be lazier and more apathetic which often leaves council seats occupied with barely-warm bodies, sucking up city wages, and doing NOTHING but grandstanding, ignoring their constituents, and acting like sycophants to those whom they think they need. MAKE THEM EARN YOUR VOTE.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Well, you have heard what the candidates have to say…what about you? What do you think is the most important issue on your street, in your neighborhood, of the entire city? Do any of these candidates have a true beat on the issues of the city? You be the judge.
LEARN THE LOCAL ELECTORAL SYSTEM
Local government affects your immediate, day-to-day, life more and faster than the larger, more celebrated state and national elections. Don’t you think you should know what office controls what resource? We will help with that.
If you are out for credibility….DON’T STAR IN THIS SECTION!
Our feature dissee of the day is THE ENTIRE MAINSTREAM NEWS ROSTER…this is left-wing, right-wing, I don’t care! With the crippling and possibly catastrophic issues plaguing the American people today, they are the prime suspects in misdirecting, misleading and mis-educating the electorate with incessant talk about a “news” story as STUPID as this.
It’s been two days, and they are riding this soundbite to death, transparently displaying their divisive, feminist, non-substantive agenda for the world to see. This is no defense of Trump – he’s a world-class clown, but, the disingenuous outrage over a person who purposefully places his foot squarely in his mouth every opportunity afforded, is quite sickening. Luckily, for them, the American public has been groomed to lap-up idiocy like this since the inception of the 24-hour news cycle. Just because these morons are chattering constantly, doesn’t mean we have to tune in. This is a great time to TURN OFF THE TV and develop YOUR OWN WORLD VIEW.
OUR BOLD PREDICTION: a surge in moderate/independent voters, and the emergence of a VIABLE 3RD PARTY, defecting from these coagulations-of-crazy that used to be called a political parties.
Get more with Dawson 🙂