The following is from Ed Cones blog,
"You couldn't take 3 minutes out of your life?" Greg Woodard reflects on his defeat in a City Council primary that drew 7% of voters: "What is up Greensboro? I just don't understand."I will honestly say that I did not vote and I couldn’t tell you the first thing about Greg Woodard. Yes I will vote in November but time was against me yesterday. I would love to know the median age of the individuals that did vote yesterday. Does the 7% turnout reflect negatively against the Greensboro community or against the individuals running for office? I am almost inclined to say it reflects worse against the folks running.
I am 28, live and work in downtown Greensboro, get my news online and really have no connect with the local political community. How did Greg Woodard try to reach me? How did the other candidates try to reach me with their message? I remember seeing a female on a billboard (maybe Sandra?) and that is about it. I saw Milton Kern’s Web site only because I was sent a link on MySpace. Do you really think I am going to vote for you because I saw your billboard? Please do not insult my intelligence by making that assumption. The local campaign has the same problem that the News & Record has! What? They care too much about the older generation and don’t worry about targeting the younger generations. How many candidates have a Facebook account? The Greensboro directory in Facebook has 28,000 members and I am sure MySpace has even more than that.
If you lost I’m sorry but don’t get high and mighty because people didn’t vote. You should have created an email campaign, sent me a mailer or done something outside the box to get my attention. It cost $400 to advertise in the downtown magazine 99 Block’s, you could have taken out a two page ad for less than a grand telling me how great you are (for the at large candidates). Did you do that?
What do I, a successful 28 year old care about? The minimum wage not getting drastically increased, what are you doing to create local jobs so I don’t have to move, what are you doing so hundreds of thousands of dollars is not being wasted on this police department crap, who is getting fired for letting the police department have the issues it has?
It is to bad that Greg Woodard waited until after the election to get me fired up about something.
11 comments:
If you live in District 5, you can learn about me and my campaign issues at
http://sandycarmany.blogspot.com/
Sandy Carmany
Greensboro City Council
District 5
Sandy,
I don't live in district 5 but I have friends that do. Do you not want me to look at your blog and potentially share info about you with my friends... since I don't live in your district?
Judging by this post it's probably better for Greensboro that you didn't vote.
You owe it to your community and every veteran (many of whom died to give you this right to vote and to bitch and moan and whine about someone else's action) to be an informed voter and VOTE.
Stop sitting back and expect someone to drop it in your lap, get off your lazy ass, and find the information you need to make an intelligent decision.
Don't get me fired up.
You're probably part of the Democratic Party who thinks every time you take a dump that the government should bidet, powder, polish, and manicure your ass for you.
Don't get me fired up.
Do you really want to know why candidates seem to focus on older generations?
Greg Woodard (and others) started and maintained a blog. He advertised online at We101.com. He worked hard trying to reach out to people, attending every candidate forum available and every neighborhood meetings sponsored by the N&R. The N&R put indepth candidate questionnaires online and reported on candidates on their election blog.
At some point you have to take a little responsibility for educating yourself -- at least meet the candidates half way or heck, even a quarter of the way. Sounds like you made zero effort to inform yourself. You get your information online? Great! Go get it. It's there.
Woodard's ire may be unappealling, but your lack of understanding of how hard serious candidates work and how most, except the independently wealthy, must fund a campaign on the largess of others, usually to the tune of a couple thousand dollars at best is equally regrettable.
Greg Woodard didn't wait to get you fired up, you waited to take an interest.
So why do candidates seem to target older voters? Because older voters pay attention and they actually vote. You unfortunately make the case of why younger voters should be ignored: because they don't pay attention and they don't vote.
Sorry,
Thanks for calling my poor choice of words to my attention!
Of course I want you to read my blog and pass the information along! I should have written "You can learn about me and my issues at
http://sandycarmany.blogspot.com/
and then vote for me if you live in District 5."
Sandy Carmany
Anonymous- So you want every other person like myself not to vote? You also showed your maturity when you brought up the Dem party.
Roch- Good points but for the most part my news does not come from the N&R. Your statement about younger voters is simply wrong.
Yikes, you are out of line. You should educate yourself. The only candidates that deserve your ire are those who cannot take the time to put themselves out there -- just as you deserve my ire and that of all like me that take the time to educate ourselves because you do not take the time to educate yourself. If you spent the time on your lunch break that you spent researching and posting this blog, instead to educate yourself and then vote, you could have been an American who actually deserves to have your right to vote. But instead, you seek attention via your naivety.
"Your statement about younger voters is simply wrong."
Which? That they don't pay attention or they don't vote?
When it comes to voting, there is ample evidence that younger people vote at much lower rates than older people.
From the Washington Post:
The [Census Bureua] also found that turnout rates were closely correlated to a voter's age. A little more than 73 percent of those between 65 and 74 said they voted, the highest rate for any age group. Those between the ages of 18 and 24 had the lowest, with 47 percent reported going to the polls.
Locally, data is a little harder to come by, but one indicator is that the precints at UNCG and NCA&T consisently have the lowest number of voters. Last week's primary saw 16 people vote at UNCG. 8 people voted at NC A&T: the two lowest number of voters among all precincts in Greensboro. That's roughly two tenths of one percent of the on-campus population of each university: 0.2%. Yeah, Greensboro's 7% turnout looks bad. UNCG's and A&T's are appalling.
Do I sound a little preturbed. I am. Not at you specifically, but at younger people who give a lot of lip service to voting, then don't. I think government at all levels would be better if younger people paid attention and voted. I really wish they would.
Roch,
I think the problem with getting voting stats from a college is that a large portion of the students are not from or do not live in Greensboro. Good info from the article you provided.
Anon- Again, I will vote in November but simply did not have time earlier this week.
Daily,
I've never looked at your blog until now. As a candidate (and to reiterate what Roch101 stated) it is EXTREMEMLY tough for the un-wealthy to afford to finance their own campaign. Two years ago, I loaned $2,000 to my campaign to get started. I simply did not have that cash this time. Last time I raised $3,000 without a fundraiser, this time about $1,000 WITH fundraisers. Fundraisers cost money in themselves. I state all of this because you say that I could have spent $400 advertising in 99 Blocks, but $400 is 1/4 of the money I needed to buy signs. Signs provide some name recognition and have a great effect if seen in individual yards (i.e. if they like that candidate, maybe I should too).
I completely agree that the younger voter is ignored. I suggested Internet voting on a N&R blog but the reply was that it would never be and voters are even trying to get away from the electronic voting machines. We deal with our most precious asset online - our bank accounts. I think with some work we could have internet voting. My belief is that we are not progressive thinkers in Greensboro. The majority wants status quo and is afraid to go out of the box. Most of our elected officials are not even baby boomers (they are older) so how can they even begin to know what Gen X (me), Gen Y and the 20-somethings could need or want. Even I am beginning to feel disconnected from the younger audience and I graduated from college 2 years ago.
You say that you were busy on Tuesday. Well, what about the two weeks prior that you could have voted early at the Board of Elections (downtown) and other areas around the city? Research has shown that Greensboro lacks social capital. I think this is a nationwide problem and it is a problem that I have seen since the early 1990's. Not 100% but I believe that it comes from companies not giving their employees the time to work in the community. I know I used to work 40 hours a week but now I work 50 hours.
Obviously voting is a multi-faceted issue and we need input from young, old, rich and poor to tell the legislature (federal & state) what we would like to see.
Janet Wallace
Janet,
Thanks for your comment... as it is a very good one. You asked why I didn't vote early. I simply did not know that the early voting was taking place.
I also do understand your comments about the financial issues that you faced. It is very sad that candidates are forced to spend so much money to win a campaign. One side of me wants to say, "It is part of the game so if you are going to get in... deal with it." But the other part of me hates that the person with the most money wins.
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