The 10 Percent Rule

As is the norm in my house, the Daily Show was on our television late at night this week.
The guest Wednesday night was former Republican Senator Olympia Snowe, who was hawking her new book with her ideas and thoughts on getting Congress working together again.
And Jon Stewart, in a less snarky way than normal, asked her about the gun control kerfuffle, and how, despite 90 percent of the country agreeing that background checks on gun purchases were the least we could do, congress was unable to get the deal done.
Her boiled down response was that the 10 percent were louder, and the squeaky wheel got the grease.
While I wanted to be incensed at the thought, she was right. Why should Congress or any of our political leaders listen to the 90 percent, when 10 percent will do?
It’s not something I like, or believe should be true, but it is.
Know how I know?
Because less than 10 percent of my neighbors and fellow constituents bothered to vote Tuesday.
Sure, it was only an election for State Senate District 32 — a runoff election at that — to fill the vacancy created when Gloria Negrete McLeod was elected to the House in November.
A total of 33,111 votes were cast in Tuesday’s election for a seat that serves Pomona, Bloomington, Fontana, Montclair, Ontario, Muscoy, Rialto and parts of San Bernardino and Colton.
According to a report in the Daily Bulletin, the district has 284,217 registered voters. That’s about 11 percent.
Break it down by precinct, and it’s especially dire. With 448 total precincts, that works out to just 80 voters per precinct.
Imagine putting your future on the line based on the whims of 80 people from your neighborhood. We live in an apartment complex with more than 200 units. Figure that’s at least 350 people (and ours definitely has more from the amount of children and teens who play outside). Kinda scary, huh?
Oh, and I don’t like the excuse that people may have forgotten or they didn’t have time. Our polling place was located at our son’s school. And it was made painfully obvious that there was an election going on, and it was the place to vote.
When I walked in after seeing my son to class, I was gratefully greeted by bored poll workers, who were happy to have someone, anyone, come in and vote. And I was done and out of there in 90 seconds.
I was the only one who cared enough to get out of my car and walk up to the school library after dropping their child off just before 8 a.m. I don’t know how many parents may have done their voting after or when they picked up their child, but it wasn’t busy later in the evening, either.
(Oh, and this election just caused a vacancy in the State Assembly, which will necessitate another special election to fill that seat … wanna guess how many people will vote in that one?)
It just leaves me shaking my head. For all the griping out there about the way the country is moving and how people want to see progress in congress, nearly 90 percent of the people just blew off their most basic right — their most basic duty in doing their part in keeping the country moving. It’s mind-boggling.
You want your voice heard? Start with the ballot box.