How many times does this stupid f’ing experiment have to fail before the city and the school district wakeup and go, “Guess it doesn’t work.”
Only one of every 42 registered voters cast a ballot for the incumbent in Tuesday’s Sioux Falls School Board election, but he cruised to a second term.
Â
Darin Daby will be joined on the board by newcomer Kate Parker, who earned votes from every 43rd registered voter. The ratio for the losing candidate, Mike Deitschman, was one in 63.
I will admit, I did not vote. Which is rare for me. But like I have said before, my property taxes are low and I don’t have any kids. I also believe public education is one of the wisest uses of tax money. I didn’t really like any of the candidates either. One was a rubberstamper, one co-owns a family business that is anti-union and anti-worker rights and one is a teabagger defender. So no votes from me. I also don’t know where my super precint is, I usually just absentee vote at the courthouse.
The school district used 23 super precincts, so most voters had a different voting place compared to the 2008 general election. Deitschman said he had supporters calling him to say they couldn’t find their polling place.
Surprise! Surprise!
Daby called the turnout “disappointing” and said he’s willing to listen to ideas on how to raise public interest.
Well Daby, you are the president of the school board, why not suggest getting rid of super precints? That would be a start.
We have super precints to aproximately save $16,000 per election, but the city has no problem with paying a consultant $50,000 to tell us what a historical window looks like. Go figure.* There should never be a pricetag on one of greatest rights in a democracy. It’s foolish, petty and UnAmerican to limit voters. But of course we live in a city that violates many constitutional rights, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone.
*(BTW- I know that the city didn’t pay for this election, but have used super precints in the past with similiar results).