A dozen Decatur volunteer staffers and citizens calling themselves “Decatur Votes,” are striving to increase the city’s voter turnout, particularly during local elections.
The collective is not only registering new voters, it’s trying to find out why people don’t vote at all. Since April, Decatur Votes has met with people mostly through setting up a booth at major Decatur events, like last month’s beach party.
Committee Chair Olivia Burrell-Jackson said she’s heard various non-voting explanations ranging from being out of town, to being unaware of election dates, to being uninformed about candidates.
“Bottom line,” Jackson said, “we want to look at all the reasons people aren’t voting and address every one.” Last November, despite one of the larger local elections in recent memory — 10 candidates running for five commission/school board slots—the voter turnout was only 39 percent.
Other stats: the November 2013 general election featuring local races had only a 14 percent turnout; last May’s general election (no local contests) had a 23 percent turnout; the city’s turnout rate for the 2012 national elections was 78 percent.
“National elections always draw a lot,” Jackson said. “The test to measure our effectiveness is (2017’s) local election, where I hope we can reach 60 percent.”
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