Have you heard about The Election? The stakes have never been higher: the fate of the republic is in our hands, the destiny of America is on the line, and democracy itself is on the ballot. We’re living through historic, unprecedented times and fighting for the very soul of our nation. What we do on November 5th will shape the future of our country for generations. It’s probably the most important election of our lifetimes.
And yet, unless you’re among the 18% of Americans who live in one of seven crucial swing states, your vote will have no bearing on The Election’s outcome. So what should the other 82% of us do?
Perhaps pay attention to the elections that actually matter.
The US presidential election—“The Election”—is just one election happening on November 5th. Thirty-three states will choose a US senator (Nebraska will choose two), while all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives are up for grabs. Meanwhile, 11 states have gubernatorial elections, 44 have elections for state legislators, and a handful will elect state lieutenant governors, attorneys general, members of state boards of education, and a plethora of commissioners. And then there are all the elections at the county and local levels, contests to elect mayors and city council members and school district trustees and special purpose district commissioners.
According to the Federal Reserve Board of St. Louis, there are some 90,837 local governments in America—and I’m not sure anybody knows exactly how many of them are holding elections next month. For all of the unrelenting news coverage, podcasting, and ink-spilling that the top of the ticket is receiving, you’d surely think it was zero.
Voter participation certainly reflects that, dropping off the further down the ballot you go.
For instance, turnout in New York City elections is famously low, perhaps a consequence of the fact that they fall on odd years that don’t coincide with presidential or midterm congressional races. The lack of participation—only 23.3% of NYC voters cast a ballot for mayor in 2021—suggests few people are paying attention to their local government, which may have something to do with why the administration of Mayor Eric Adams is plagued by corruption scandals.
But you can’t really blame New York voters for not paying attention when their newspapers have also turned their back on the city. The New York Times stopped printing its Metro section in March 2020—right as the coronavirus began ripping through the city and dramatically transforming the day-to-day lives of New Yorkers. The following year, The Wall Street Journal announced it was closing down its Greater New York desk. This past summer, The Times revealed that while it would no longer issue endorsements in local races, it would continue to do so in presidential elections, but…why? The Times hasn’t endorsed a Republican since Dwight Eisenhower, so who really thinks that their endorsement of the Democratic nominee will change anyone’s minds? Meanwhile, at least half a dozen people are likely to challenge Eric Adams for mayor next year, but the newspaper of record won’t go on record for any of them.
The nationalization of our politics and political news is of course not only a problem for New Yorkers. Newspapers across the country have shuttered or likewise pared down their local coverage, which has created an opening for nonprofit news organizations and digital platforms, but these are often underfunded or lack the reach of legacy media. Which is a shame, because local elections not only have a far greater impact on our quality of life, but they’re also where our vote can have the most impact—if only we knew anything about them.
No doubt, the US president has tremendous power in certain spheres, but the reality is that the position has very little influence over our day-to-day lives—unless you are one of those chronically online, Citizen-of-the-Twitterverse types, in which case Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are probably living rent free in your head 24/7. But if you don’t live on (or own) Twitter, you’ll observe lots of things happening in the world outside your front door that only your state and especially local officials can do anything about. Many voters don’t understand the extent to which these officials have real power over basic issues.
But they should. As I wrote exactly one year ago, our focus on the presidency is misplaced:
President Biden has the power to launch a nuclear warhead, but he can’t find you childcare, or dispatch an ambulance, or cut your property taxes, or make it easier to build more housing. He can’t pick up the trash on your street or lower your utility bill. He can’t solve your city’s homelessness problem or make the buses run on time.
Neither can his successor. But your mayor and city council and other local officials can—and they can do quite a lot else, too.
While the federal government has some power to affect housing policy, as Slow Boring and the new Agglomerations blog describe, state and local governments are largely responsible for the mess of regulatory barriers that have restricted housing supply. Only they can fix it. Where I live in Austin, our mayoral and city council elections are shaping up to be a referendum on the largely YIMBY agenda of pro-housing reforms that the current council recently enacted into law. Austinites have an opportunity to secure the super-majority that voted for these reforms and to continue to advance more pro-housing policies.
While I think housing policy is the fulcrum on which the long-term health of our cities turns, it’s not the only policy that matters to flourishing cities. Mayors and city councils have tremendous power over the city budget and local taxes, utilities, public safety, the business climate, parks and recreation, homelessness, transportation and public works, municipal courts, airports, and quite a lot of other areas that affect the quality of life where we live. Kamala Harris won’t be able to turn the lights back on if another “freak” ice storm downs the power lines. Donald Trump won’t be able to reduce traffic deaths on dangerously-built county roads.
Consider another national obsession of ours: the US Supreme Court, particularly the president’s power to nominate justices. While decisions like Roe v. Wade can be far-reaching, with actual life or death implications, abortion is now a matter for individual states to decide. In Texas, it’s not just the state legislature and governor that have power over that issue; we also have partisan state Supreme Court justices who can interpret and rule on the state’s abortion ban, including whether the ban can be criminally enforced—and three seats on the court are up for election this year.
Similarly, the US Supreme Court recently ruled in favor of the constitutionality of so-called “camping” bans, effectively barring homeless encampments. Whether you agree with the ruling is beside the point; it’s now up to local jurisdictions to decide whether to implement them. Obviously, this is not to suggest that the Supreme Court isn’t important—far from it—but if you don’t live in one of the swing states, your vote will not determine who gets to nominate justices should any vacancies arise in the next four years.
When I enter the polls on Election Day, I’ll have 43 different contests on my ballot, of which forty are for state and local races. While gerrymandering makes some of these races uncompetitive, and in more than half the candidate is running unopposed, for a meaningful few the outcome will be determined by who turns out to vote. For most Americans, these types of elections—for mayor, for council, for county officials—are the elections where our votes really do count.
But voting is not the only thing that counts.
Much of the important work in our local politics and civic lives doesn’t happen on Election Day. Getting candidates elected and getting difficult things done requires building coalitions, showing up at City Hall, writing letters to elected leaders, meeting with officials, attending or hosting forums and rallies, knocking on doors, talking to friends and neighbors. Nor is civic life strictly political: it’s cleaning up the trash on your street and volunteering for the PTA, it’s calling in a burnt-out streetlight and calling on your neighbor when the power goes out. More, it’s engaging with your community wherever you find it—at work or church, in affinity and fraternal groups, at your book club.
How we choose to get involved in our communities is an election we make every other day of the year. Strong, vibrant communities hinge much more on that type of civic engagement than any single vote. That’s the most important election.
Of course, if you are among the 7% of City of Yes subscribers who live in a swing state, the fate of the republic, the destiny of America, and democracy itself is in your hands. But wherever you live, pay attention to the local races that really matter, and try to get involved in making your community a better place the other 364 days of the year.
Well said, Ryan.
People also need to know that candidates elected to these lower level offices might be who actually chooses our next president: not the popular vote, nor even the electoral college – but rather our next president could be chosen in a Trumpist electoral coup through a “contingent election.” Voting a COMPLETE ballot, and if you split your ticket to vote strategically for certain lower level offices is crucial to stopping it. See this post with a Rachel Maddow clip on the subject, and know what you’re doing when you vote. A vote at the top of the ticket is not enough – independents and Republican cross-over voters, this goes especially for you. Share the article so that the 30% of voters who normally don’t vote a complete ballot will learn about the importance of doing so.
https://crisafulli.substack.com/p/vote-blue-down-ballot-or-house-may-elect-trump