For the first four years that I was eligible to vote, I didn’t.
I turned 18 on the day I entered college, and the truth was, I was too preoccupied to even educate myself about candidates and issues. But eventually, my lack of civic responsibility was discovered by my peers, and I was called on the carpet. One pal, Buzz, was so horrified that I was neglecting my duty as a citizen that he repeatedly berated me for it, completely dismissing the lame argument that an ill-informed vote was worse than no vote at all. “Well, then, get informed!” he cried. “Otherwise, you’re letting the country be run by people who are even more ignorant but less conscientious!” That Buzz could really work up a lather when it came to the franchise.
I admired him for it, as I did for so many other things. Here was a kid who put his heart and soul into the college’s Model United Nations team. He practiced diplomacy, negotiation and debate like other people practiced shooting hoops (though he did that, too). I thought at the time, this is the sort of person who ought to be in public office, but who seldom is. He’s sincere and optimistic and dedicated and all the true blue things an electorate would wish for. I’d vote for him, for sure.
As an interesting coincidence, Buzz did end up in public office, but it wasn’t because I voted for him. Nor did anyone else. No, Buzz is now serving as an appointed member of the Cleveland Municipal School Board.
I favor an appointed board. And yes, I am perfectly willing to concede that my opinion in this matter may be significantly biased in favor of a fellow alumnus. But more than that, I think, my awareness of the qualifications and character of this one board member has drawn my attention to a very important fact: I have no such knowledge regarding the rest of the appointees. Nor could I offer a first-hand testimonial in support of any member of the county board of revision, or any trustee for the sewer district, and yet I rely upon those people to do a good job just as surely as I rely upon Buzz to do his part in governing our city’s school system.
In other parts of the country, particularly in small jurisdictions, voters are or have been called upon to elect all kinds of public officials, from the dog warden to the library trustees to the “weigher of coal.” This can be a highly effective means of ensuring that individual officials are immediately accountable to the voters. But it also demands that the electorate remain intensely vigilant for the poor performance of many, many individuals. Moreover, when an elected board fails to produce desirable results, the tendency of voters may be to throw out the baby along with the bathwater. The public sees the cumulative results of a board’s actions more than the faults and virtues of the individual members. Rather than try to sort them out, confused voters may favor a devastating clean sweep.
I’m not trying to weasel out of my responsibilities as a voter, nor am I endorsing the idea that Cleveland voters in general are not competent. But the reality is that no matter how much progress I’ve made toward becoming an informed voter when it comes to issues and major candidates, I cannot extend that claim to cover the whole school board. But, ah, here is the blessing of representative government. I hired Jane Campbell to take care of some of this oversight for me. If she retains by her appointment lazy, deceitful, or incompetent bums, she will (or should) feel the full weight of the public’s displeasure. I should think this encourages her to practice skilled personnel management.
The appointment of a school board is no more alarming then the appointment of boards or commissions who govern health, planning, corrections, parks, libraries, transportation or any of the dozens of other aspects of our civic life. Were I called upon to elect the individual members of all of these boards, I might again be driven to join the ranks of overwhelmed voters already avoiding the polls in great numbers.
However, if I cannot spare enough attention - let’s be honest: I can’t spare enough interest, either - to study the curricula vitae of dozens of candidates for boards and commissions, I can at least focus on the performance and outcomes of the institutions which they serve. And here is where my real responsibility as a voter lies: I am the person who hires the person in charge. I don’t need to micromanage in order to be effective. But when I become aware of poor governance within the school district or on any other appointed board, I can and must demand that my employee - be it the mayor, the county commissioners, the governor or the President - root out the source of the problem, and eliminate it.
Knowing Buzz, I think he would expect nothing less.