To paraphrase one of the most popular television characters right now, the May 24 primary turnout was strong, from a certain point of view.
On the one hand, seeing 35.5 percent of Habersham County voters cast ballots in May was a promising sign.
The numbers from the last midterm election were at 23 percent for the primary, so this was far better.
It did not match the 43 percent from 2020, which included a presidential primary and a hotly contested set of state races, which went largely unopposed this time. So that can be somewhat forgiven.
The other major positive sign is that voters did not seem to mind being required to show their identification.
There is no reason one should not have to show ID to vote. We have to show ID to buy wine in the grocery store, enter a rated-R movie or buy a lottery ticket, get on a plane and more.
There is no reason that our identification cannot help secure our vote, and the results from this first test of the new law bore that out.
The bad news is that 64.5 percent of our county’s registered voters decided to sit this primary out.
Why be registered to vote if you do not plan to vote?
It is probably unrealistic to expect 100 percent voter participation, because any number of circumstances could prevent both your ability to vote and perhaps your desire to do so.
But why are the numbers not closer to 85-90 percent than 35?
If we are saying that 35 percent is a good number for voter turnout, then our standards have dropped.
Nationally, we saw two-thirds of eligible Americans vote in record numbers. That should not be an outlier, but the norm. We need two out of three voters casting ballots at minimum to help keep this democracy thriving.
We had 61 percent come out in Georgia in the 2018 election, which now can officially be referred to as Kemp-Abrams I.
Let’s see if we can get to 70 percent for the sequel in November.
We owe it to ourselves to take advantage of our right to vote and make our voices heard in government.
Without that, there is little point to a representative democracy.