Local elections determine who runs the vital services millions of people rely on every day: schools, leisure centres, parks and bin collections. They also decide how your money is spent on things like roads, fire and police services, housing and new businesses. Local councillors, district assemblies and mayors make these decisions with your tax dollars. Their choices affect you and your community – but they are only as effective as the number of voters that show up at the polls to represent you.
But, too often, only a small percentage of voters turn out for local elections. The result is that these votes are decided by a tiny fraction of the population, and these elected officials are often unresponsive to their constituents. And, unfortunately, this problem is getting worse. Since 2020, state lawmakers have rushed to increase their control over local election administration by passing laws that restrict the ability of cities and counties to offer early voting or accept private donations to support nonpartisan election administration.
We need to do more to educate voters about local elections and the important role they play in our democracy. In addition, we need to focus more effort on encouraging individuals and organizations to participate in local races and elections. Nonprofits play a powerful role in civic engagement and can help make sure that people are aware of their options for participating and are ready to engage.