The following was written by my twitter-friend John McGinty, a blogger and writer out of Athens, for OnlineAthens, the website of the Athens Banner-Herald. It is published here with his permission.
Partisan elections, particularly on the local level, inject a predetermined narrative – one that isn’t necessarily applicable – into voters’ decision-making process.
All too often, a voter simply sees the “R” or “D” next to a candidate’s name, makes an assumption on what the candidate, as a Republican or a Democrat, stands for, and blindly casts a vote.
Yet, while Republicans and Democrats may have philosophical disagreements over prominent pieces of state or national legislation, those partisan philosophical differences in viewpoint don’t, or shouldn’t, automatically result in a difference of opinion regarding the funding of a school expansion or extending the hours at a local park. If anything, local politics are where people of different ideological mindsets frequently come together.
The reason is simple: when projects and issues are unfolding in people’s backyards, the politics become more personal.
It is, then, feasible to suggest that applying the rigidity of partisanship to local elections simply isn’t fair.
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