Local Politics

I haven't gotten involved with local politics in Key West since we moved here four years ago, but John and I have voted in every election since relocating. We read the Citizen every morning with coffee.  We know who the local politicians are and what businesses they own. We go to church with several, and my husband attends Rotary with a few more. KW is a small town, so it certainly isn't hard to keep track of things. Sometimes political news is a bit sensational, like when City Commissioners get into verbal altercations at public meetings (sometimes with an undertone of 'meet me outside'). But most of the time it's just regular business....voting on things like trash removal, etc. Of course, Key West has its fair share of nutty candidates. Let's face it, we've got our fair share of 'nutty' in just about every facet of island life. One of the perennial candidates for Mayor of Key West lists his profession as 'Janitor for God' on LinkedIn, for goodness sake. Maybe it's just me, but I think tomorrow's election could also be described as a little nutty, or just really confusing.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 26th, is the First Primary Election. If you are registered as a member of a political party, you can vote for your party's candidates for state wide offices (including Governor and Attorney General), but if you are independent, you can't. The rest of the candidates are non-partisan, including Judges for Circuit Court, Mosquito Control Board, and School Board for each district in Monroe County. According to the Hometown! PAC website (it's a local organization providing information to voters) 'Candidates for these offices do not run as representatives of any political party. If there are three or more candidates for a particular office and none of the three receives a majority vote (50%+1) the top two vote getters go to the General Election for a run-off.'

Tomorrow also brings the Key West Mayoral election, held just one year since the last election to bring it on schedule with the others. This is the second time in 12 months that the candidates have printed signs, held fundraisers, and presented their views at rallies and forums. It seems to have diminished the political fervor, in my opinion, giving things an air of 'didn't we just do this?'  Sadly, I read somewhere that they are hoping for a 28% voter turn out tomorrow. It is EASY, actually BEYOND EASY to vote in Key West. For a town with around 25,000 residents, there are several polling sites, all open morning through evening. There have been several days of early voting, including this past Saturday, in case you couldn't get there on Tuesday. Also, most Conchs I know do Absentee Voting. Whaaat?? No, they won't be out of town or out of the country on election day. I guess it's so they don't have to actually GO to the polls....which aren't crowded anyway. (Or maybe that is why they aren't crowded? I don't know....)

Because I have been stewing about this for several weeks, I decided to get involved tomorrow, if only on a very small level. My mayoral candidate of choice is a friend's father. I am his grand daughter's Girl Scouts' leader, and both my girls have been in classes with her at school. (I told you it is a really small town!) I called my friend, who gave me her dad's cell phone number. I was kind of nervous to call him....um, hello, Mayor? But I did it anyway. And he called me back within minutes and gave me times and places to wave a sign at one of the polling stations. I am looking forward to it! Because you generally can't change anything from the safety of your sofa, and you really can't complain about the process if you don't take part in it. Hit the polls tomorrow, people! Get out and vote.