Hello! First-time voter here. I never voted, because I couldn’t—I wasn’t a US citizen. I remedied that. I turned in my application late last summer 2024, and, on April 21 of this year, attended my swearing-in ceremony with my 12-year-old daughter (born here, thus an American, unless a certain someone ever gets his way overturning the 14th Amendment).
It would be easy to say I was inspired to citizenship because I wanted an “official” say in our current national political environment. That wouldn’t be wrong, but that’s not even half of it. Obviously, having a vote to defend my daughter’s rights and her future in the United States were motivations for me to become a citizen. But it’s the local elections and ballot measures I felt were also important in which to participate with a vote, each and every time they would be held, including off-years.
The truth is, I love my home city, Saint Paul. I believe in public schools. I want to preserve the good things we have going in my home state, Minnesota. And, I want to be able to register my opposition to things I feel are not in the best interest of the city, schools or state.
The other important piece of this is, when one informs oneself of the local issues, one feels connection with fellow residents, because one can see we’re all more alike than different. That is the truth that social media has helped destroy since it crawled into our phones and consciousness nearly 20 years ago. Cable news, of course, started that trend and has not helped (Fox News is an easy target, but CNN is not guilt-free these days—NewsNight with Abby Phillip with its screaming panelists is easily the among the most poisonous to our national psyche on air). Those outlets falsely nationalized our politics down to our street curbs, and there are plenty of cynical politicians who jumped on that bandwagon because that makes their job easier and keeps them in power—rage sells ads on social media and fills campaign coffers all the same.
That doesn’t work well at a local level. Streets need to be paved and and plowed. Lead water lines and century-old sewer systems need to be replaced—which neighborhoods first? Police officers and the school board need to be supported for the great community work they do and held accountable when things go awry. It takes a lot of engagement from the community to make a community work. (And if a community doesn’t engage, it can wind up with lunatics on its school board.)
In Saint Paul, at least three (possibly four) of the five mayoral candidates agree on the major issues the city faced, and agree with variation on the solutions. They believe in one set of facts from which to base their proposals. For all the different campaign signs stuck in lawns across this city, one can still feel sanity will be at the helm if one of the top ranked-choice candidates wins. Other issues for us Saint Paulites are a school-funding levy and a charter amendment to allow the city government to administer fines for ordinance violations—the “brass tacks” items that really matter to residents that don’t register on rage-baiting platforms. Compromise isn’t always easy, but local governance is a fine place to find it and gain inspiration—even if one doesn’t get all that they want. It’s how things are supposed to work, and proof that we can—and should—have it at every level of government.
Go vote today if your community is holding elections in this off-year. And vote whenever you can—I will.
