We just had a big set of primary elections on May 20, except that the turnout wasn't all that big. Of course, primary elections are party elections, in which the political parties weed out their candidates in preparation for the general election. So, for many people, the primary is not so big a deal as the general election in the fall of the year. Yet for our democratic republic to work as it should, we need people participating in the political process. Low turnout at elections is a worrisome thing. Voter apathy is a distressing problem, an unhealthy condition for a democratic republic.
The spring primary elections are not quite finished yet. Although most candidates settled their primary races in the May 20 election, we still have a state-wide race to be decided by a run-off. On Tuesday, June 10, there will be a run-off for the Republican primary election between Leslie Rutledge and David Sterling, candidates for Arkansas Attorney General. All the polling locations will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, as they were on May 20.
Sometimes when I write about Now things and Then things, I am comparing the now to things a long time ago, at least relatively speaking. For this column, I am writing about some changes, most of which have occurred recently in our community
Awareness of some of the recent changes affecting the Pea Ridge area apparently is still getting around our community. The major local change is that a 2013 change in state law required that the former Pea Ridge voting precinct be divided into two precincts, with each precinct voting in separate locations. Precincts larger than 3,000 voters were required to be divided, and our former Pea Ridge precinct was deemed oversized. Earlier, our polling place had been changed from the Emergency Services Building community room to Pea Ridge First Baptist Church Family Life Center. Then, in 2013, our Pea Ridge area was divided into two voting precincts. Precinct 33, the south precinct, still votes at First Baptist Church of Pea Ridge, which is located on Arkansas Highway 72 West (Slack Street). Precinct 58, the new Pea Ridge north precinct, now votes at the Pea Ridge Church of Christ Family Life Center, located on Patton Street at North Curtis Avenue. The boundary line between the two Pea Ridge precincts is Pickens Street through old downtown, State Hwy. 72 East to the U.S. Highway 62 intersection, and Arkansas Highway 94 West to Blackjack Corner, continuing west on Benton County 40 (McNelly Road), and on Tommy Hawk Road to Mariano Road. Voters living north of that boundary line will vote at the Pea Ridge Church of Christ. Voters living south of the boundary line will vote at the Pea Ridge First Baptist Church. The Emergency Services Building is no longer a polling place; and no one will vote there.
Voter motivation, and things that give impetus to voter turnout, are obviously different for different people. Some voters turn out to vote because they want to vote for a certain candidate, or for a certain measure on the ballot, or they turn out to vote because they want to vote against a certain candidate or ballot issue. Political advertising in this day and time often has big money directed to arousing emotional reactions to certain candidates or issues, by sowing seeds of distrust. Few political ads on TV seem conducive to rational or considered thought about candidates or issues, often being focused on ruining certain candidates, and sowing disrespect for both current office holders and the offices they hold. I hold that we ought to be worried that today's political climate has made the word "politician" a bad word. Likewise, today's political climate has made out politics in general to be a bad thing. In a democratic republic, with a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, the processes by which the people handle their common business together must not be assumed to be bad, or inevitably corrupt, or all office-holders assumed to be evil connivers, or certain office-holders blamed for all problems. A positive citizen attitude is a priceless value in any society.
Some citizens turn out to vote because they believe in doing so. They see voting as one to the highest forms of liberty which we have in our nation. They consider voting as a great privilege to be treasured in a free society; and they see voting as a citizen responsibility in our system of government. Obviously I have great sympathy with those who have such attitudes and commitments.
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Editor's note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is an award-winning columnist, a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at [email protected], or call 621-1621.
Editorial on 05/28/2014