If you think your vote doesn’t count, you’re wrong! Statistics prove your vote makes a difference.In the 2000 presidential election, “Florida and New Mexico were decided by 903 votes combined,” William Frey reported in the Orlando Sentinel. Last year, voters defeated the D 49 mill levy by 214 votes. But out of 29,930 registered voters in D 49, county records show 8,682 people didn’t vote.Heather Allen from the El Paso County Election Department said the upcoming election will have a “huge impact on D 49 residents.” Voters will choose three out of five school board members, which may determine the direction the school district takes over the next four years, she said. The district also is asking voters to approve a mill levy override.If the mill levy passes, D 49 property taxes will increase up to $7.5 million annually until 2030-2031 for school projects totaling $80.5 million. However, when interest payments are included taxpayers may have to repay up to $156 million, according to the wording on the El Paso County ballot.Referenda’s C & D also are issues important to voters across the state, Allen said.Who votes and who stays home on Election Day is difficult to determine because El Paso County does not collect voting data based on age or education. However, Frey’s article said demographically older Caucasians vote in larger numbers than any other race or age group.According to a Federal Commission report on electoral reform, “In 2004 there was a strong positive relationship between voting, education, income and age.” The study also found new voting laws, such as early and absentee voting rules recently enacted in Colorado, did not increase the number of voters, but made voting more convenient for those who vote, especially the elderly.County voting records show that early and absentee voters defeated last year’s D 49 mill levy override. Early and mail-in ballots showed 3,001 votes cast for the mill levy and 3,920 against. On Election Day, 6,794 favored the mill levy and 6,156 voters opposed it.County census data indicates only 8.7 percent of the population is over age 65. Residents between the ages of 18 and 64 comprise 72.4 percent of the population.Journalist Bill Vaughan said, “A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote.”Election Day is Nov. 1. The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
