Don't pass up a chance to exercise your right to vote

By Scott Marshall
Beaufort County elections director

Published Saturday, November 7, 2009

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It's a good news, bad news story. The good news? No one in Beaufort County is dying to vote. The bad news? No one in Beaufort County is dying to vote. If it sounds confusing, please allow me to explain.

The right to vote is guaranteed in the Constitution. We didn't even have to ask for it. We don't even have to work to keep it. It's just there, like the sunrise every morning, simply because we are privileged enough to live where voting is a right. This would be a great segue to wrap the rest of the letter in a flag and drum home the point that we have this right because others have, and still do, sacrifice their all to preserve our rights. While that argument is justifiable, I prefer to deviate from it slightly.

Whether you agree or disagree with the politics of the decisions involved, we are engaged simultaneously in two wars. While they are very different in some ways, they are very similar in another important one. The central governments of both Iraq and Afghanistan pledged themselves to developing democracies. By and large, the Iraqi and Afghan citizens want what we have. The United States is a model. I can attest to this, having spent a year working and living with Iraqis.

Their desire to be like us is especially prevalent in their political aspirations. And guess what? They are dying to vote, literally. Case in point is the recent presidential election saga in Afghanistan, which sadly came to an end when the challenger, Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from consideration to avoid a runoff election with the incumbent President Hamid Karzai. In the initial election on Aug. 20, 26 people were killed simply because they were attempting to get to the polls.

We just had municipal elections in Bluffton and Port Royal on Tuesday. We live in a society where we don't have to fear for our lives getting to the polls. But even in the way that we, as Americans, sometimes like to use the figure of speech that we are "dying" to do this, or "dying" to have that, the majority of Bluffton and Port Royal voters were not "dying" to vote. Voter turnout was a dismal 10 percent for Bluffton and 12 percent for Port Royal.

My hat is off to those who voted and to those who ran. So I hope the following comments are not taken personally by the winners because

I respect their desire to serve publicly in an elected capacity. Successful office seekers often like to claim that their election is some sort of mandate. If this is true, the only mandate that any of the winners can take from the Bluffton and Port Royal elections is that the overwhelming majority of the citizens they serve don't really care who represents them or what decisions they will make.

The numbers support the theory. In Bluffton, Michael Raymond garnered the most votes, with 307. That means that of the 5,650 voters eligible to vote in the election, only 5 percent of them cared enough to vote for him. In Port Royal, Vernon DeLoach was the chief vote-getter with 183 votes. This means that of 2,465 eligible voters, only 7 percent of them actually voted for him.

Policy decisions that impact individual citizens the most occur at the local level. Decisions regarding property taxes, local sales and use taxes, public safety concerns, garbage service, public school issues and many other areas that touch our daily lives are not made in Washington, or even in Columbia. The decisions that have the greatest effect on our pocketbooks and collective quality of life day in and day out are made in town halls and county council chambers. Yet the turnout for these races remains abysmally low, with most voters making their way to the polls only every four years to vote in a presidential race. It's shameful, really, and very backward.

It seems I heard someone say just the other day that our country was headed in the wrong direction. Something to ponder.

The views expressed here are those of the author and are not intended to represent the members of the Beaufort County Board of Elections and Registration.

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151 Gascoigne Bluff, Bluffton, S.C. 29910
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Beaufort County

Rick Caporale (R-District 1)
17 Salt Wind Way, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29926
Office: 680-9999; fax: 681-6700
Steven Baer (R-District 2)
10 Heather Lane, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29926
Office: 689-3570; fax: 689-3569
Stu Rodman (R-District 3)
27 Baynard Park, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29928
Office: 363-470; fax: 363-6472
Weston J. Newton chairman (R-District 4)
P.O. Drawer 7049, Hilton Head Island, S.C. 29938
Office: 842-6111; fax: 706-9981
William McBride (D-District 5)
P.O. Box 77, St. Helena Island, SC 29920
Fax:(843)838-8303
Home:(843)838-2264
Gerald Dawson (D-District 6)
64-A Horace Dawsone Drive, Seabrook, SC 29940
Fax:(843)846-4738
Office:(843)846-4830
Paul Sommerville vice chairman (R-District 7)
1509 Pigeon Point Road, Beaufort, SC 29902
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Herbert N. Glaze (D-District 8)
P.O. Box 4053, Burton, SC 29903
Fax:(843)846-3601
Home:(843)846-2845
Brian Flewelling (R- District 9)
25 Petigru Drive, Beaufort, SC 29902
Fax:(843)379-9806
Office:(843)379-9805
Jerry Stewart (R-District 10)
11 Teaberry Lane, Bluffton, S.C. 29909
Office: 705-4753; fax: 705-4723
Laura Von Harten (D-District 11)
166 Fuller Parkway, Beaufort, SC 29902
Fax:(843)379-1380
Office:(843)379-1367

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District Office: 1300 King St., P.O. Drawer 309, Beaufort, SC 29902
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Beaufort County Board of Education members

Fred S. Washington chairman (District 11)
PO 325, 804 West Street, Beaufort, SC 29901
(C) 843-524-8404
Bob Arundell vice chairman (District 2)
198 Woodlake Villas, Hilton Head, S.C. 29926
Home: 681-8502; work: 7855-8040; fax: 785-3056;
Joan Deery (District 1)
5 old Fort Drive, Hilton Head, S.C. 29926
Home: 681-8968
Wayne Carbiener (District 3)
Home: 843-363-2113
Laura Bush (District 4)
P.O. Box 172, Bluffton, S.C. 29910
Home: 757-2638; fax: 757-2638
Michael F. Rivers, Sr. (District 5)
734 Seaside Road, St. Helena, SC 29920
(H) 843-838-2277
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Earl Campbell (District 6)
93 Bruce Smalls, Grays Hill, P.O. Box 768, Lobeco, SC 29931
(H) 843-846-4531
(C) 843-476-7512
FAX 843-846-1373
Jim Bequette (District 7)
4 Broomfield Lane 2532, Beaufort, SC 29907
(H/C) 843-263-8327
Herbert Burnes (District 8)
95 Pine Grove Road, Beaufort, SC 29906
(H) 843-846-445
(C) 843-263-2776
Ronald Speaks (District 9)
3121 Palomino Dr., Burton, SC 29906
(H) 843-525-1163
(W) 843-525-8277
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George Wilson (District 10)
20 Osprey Circle, Callawassie Island, S.C. 29909
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Mayor Billy Keyserling
771 Ribaut Rd., Beaufort, SC 29902
(843) 986-2444 (Work)
(843) 521-2600 (Home)
Councilwoman Donnie Ann Beer
P.O. Box 1171, Beaufort, SC 29901
379-6099 (Home)
379-2750 (Work)
Councilman Gary Fordham
860 Ribaut Road, Beaufort, SC 29902
524-3334 (Home)
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809 Craven St., Beaufort, SC 29902
252-5687
Councilman Mike McFee
2302 Wilson Dr. Beaufort, SC 29902
843-321-0556 (Work)
843-522-1528 (Home)

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Town Hall: One Town Center Court, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928; 341-4600

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Mayor Thomas D. Peeples
4 Hartford Place, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928-3922
Home: 686-4138; office: 681-2600; fax: 689-3229
Bill Ferguson (Ward 1)
634 William Hilton Parkway, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Home: 686-2863
William Harkins (Ward 2)
3 Old Fort Lane Hilton Head Island, SC 29926
263-3261 - cell
Drew A. Laughlin (Ward 3)
5 McIntosh Road, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
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John Safay (Ward 4)
19 Starboard Tack, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
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George Williams (Ward 5)
8 Braddock Cove, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
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Ken S. Heitzke (Ward 6)
3 Audubon Place, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
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