Thank you for your comment on my post. I absolutely agree that the issue is getting informed voters to the polls. Political scientists tend to equate turnout with voters caring about an issue, but as you so insightfully pointed out, high turnout does not automatically indicate interest.

I did try to address that very point. The linked portion (”incidental only”) goes to a previous post in which I discuss uninformed voters voting on issues they know next to nothing about simply because they are already at the polls.

While this is not the behavior I want to encourage, the striking differences in turnout are probably only partially due to uniformed voters. Linking school elections with more high-profile elections may make voters more aware of school issues and, over time, generate more informed interest.

But I agree. Beefing up the numbers at the expense of informed voting isn’t the way to go. But it’s my hope that we can have both in the future, and November elections can’t be discounted in that pursuit.

I do wish more people would pay attention and vote in school board elections. I don’t see the benefit of large voter turnout of uninformed voters, however. I’d like to see the discussion turn to how to get voters to care, not just to show up.