As one person said (probably a whole lot more than one person, I just didn’t hear them), “If it doesn’t affect people’s pocket books, I guess they just don’t care.”
That got me thinking, I wonder what the result of the override would have been if it had been decided by the same 25% who bothered to vote on Tuesday.
My first thought was the override would have passed because nothing drives folks out like the threat of a higher tax. Without the threat, they had no reason to act.
But I also could make an argument that the pro-school types--the same people in other towns who leave town meetings once the school budget is passed--just weren't interested in an election that didn't immediately impact the schools.
I'm leaning toward the second hypothetical.
BTW, Amesbury had a 14% turn out? Wow. You'd think with all the talk there'd be some intense interest but the average folks may just be tuning it all out. That's a shame.
UPDATE TO PORT VOTE: Here a piece on the Current's Web site about the election including some strong comments from Steve Cole on the vote. He's right. If I'm right and the 15% of the people (that's about 1,600 folks) who voted in the override were school supporters he might have fared better.
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