Arleen Mavorah

Guest Column

Working for the Alfie Lenkiewicz and New Wave Team campaign in the Long Branch mayoral election was an eye-opening experience. I believed a change was long overdue in this town, but sad to say, we lost, so congratulations to Mayor Schneider and his Council on their re-election. See, I'm no sore loser - the people of Long Branch spoke.

Or did they? The results were Schneider, 2,437, and Lenkiewicz, 1,920, a difference of 519 votes. The Rev. Kevin Brown, received 189 votes. In essence, 519 people decided who the mayor of Long Branch would be. This gets me mad, especially after considering the following facts:

+ Long Branch population: about 32,000

+ Registered voters in Long Branch: about 14,000

+ Ballots cast in the May 9 mayoral election: about 4,500

See anything wrong with that picture? I do. Let me do the math for you. Only about 30 percent of all eligible voters actually participated in this election. And, it only takes about 50 percent of those who did vote to determine the winner. So, in this case, we end up with a mayor and council chosen by about 15 percent of the eligible voters. Shame on you if you didn't vote. A bigger shame on you if you're not registered to vote - no matter where you live! How can anyone NOT exercise their privilege and obligation as an American to vote?

A number of studies concluded that people think their vote won't make a difference. It does. They don't feel their opinion matters. It does. It'll never come down to a tie where one vote will be the breaker. It probably won't, but collectively your vote is very important. They say they don't like the choices when what they really mean is that they don't know the candidates or the issues. Some say it takes too much time or it's inconvenient, when what they really mean is they're intimidated by the process or don't know how to vote. What was your excuse?

On Election Day I worked at District One for the Lenkiewicz Team. I sat there for eight hours and watched as the voters came to cast their ballots. Some needed help, which was readily given. One person, one vote. One became two, then three and so on. How disappointed I was at the end of the day to learn how few actually turned out. District One in Elberon has about 430 registered voters. Roughly 150 showed up. And it was pretty much the same way in the other 16 districts in Long Branch. How many phone calls did you get as a reminder to vote? Didn't seem to matter, did it?

The bigger shock is that voter apathy in Long Branch is just the tip of the iceberg - and this is scary. Consider these statistics: Only about 55 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots during the last four decades of presidential elections. Compare that embarrassing number to Italy's 90 percent, Germany's and Japan's 89 percent and France' and Canada's 76 percent. Of the 153 democracies in the world, our great United States of America ranks near the bottom of voter involvement.

Did all of you nonvoters forget how our country was formed? Did you forget the heroes who fought and died for our freedom? Did you forget the historic struggles of women and African Americans to take their places at the voting booths?

More people voted for "American Idol" (65 million) than voted for George Bush (62 million). Don't get me wrong, I happen to like that show, but is this an indication of where America's priorities really are?

My guess is that many of those who voted for "American Idol" are too young to vote in elections, and of course, they didn't have to leave the comfort of their home to cast a ballot. It's also not far-fetched to believe that some might have even voted 40 times for the idol of their choice. So maybe it's not a fair comparison. But it did get people talking. And it does make one stop and think that in the scheme of things we've become "American Idle." A bunch of do-nothings who are the first to complain.

I think far too many Americans no longer believe in the importance of the political process. They don't think they can make a difference in what their country, their state or their community does. Voter apathy is dangerous to democracy. The time to change is now. You can make a difference. I know how precious America is. Do you?

Arleen Mavorah is a resident of Elberon