On September 8, voters in the Dubuque Community School District approved an increase in the district's Physical Plant and Equipment Levy. I supported it, and I am glad it passed.
What troubles me is how few of us participated.
The Telegraph Herald reported 8,935 ballots cast among 54,357 registered voters — a turnout of just 16.4%.
Election-results note: The turnout figures cited here—8,935 ballots among 54,357 registered voters (16.4%)—are attributed to the Telegraph Herald, not presented as certified totals. Verification against official certified counts remains pending. Any material difference should prompt a correction to the figures and reconsideration of claims that depend on them.
This is not an argument that everyone should have voted the way I did. In fact, I would have preferred dramatically higher turnout even if many of those additional voters had opposed the levy — or even if they had changed the outcome. Decisions carry more democratic legitimacy when communities actually participate in making them.
We often say we want children to inherit something better than we did. But children do not get to vote on the schools they attend, the public facilities they use, or the investments adults make — or decline to make — on their behalf. Those choices belong to us.
That creates an obligation of stewardship. Not every voter has a legal fiduciary duty to a school district, of course. But adults do inherit public institutions, make decisions about them for a time, and eventually hand them to another generation. That should carry some weight.
Voting is also one of the lowest-burden moments in the entire process of public decision-making. Casting a ballot can take minutes. The consequences can last years.
Yet we routinely spend far more energy after decisions are made: arguing about taxes, criticizing public officials, fighting implementation, complaining about deteriorating facilities, or insisting that somebody should have done something differently. Some of that criticism is necessary. Government should be challenged. Public institutions should be accountable.
But participation before the decision matters too.
There are legitimate reasons people miss elections. Special elections are easy to overlook. Work, caregiving, transportation, disability, poor communication, and ordinary life all create barriers. A healthy democracy should reduce those barriers rather than dismiss them.
Still, 16.4% should bother us.
Public schools may be one of the clearest examples of intergenerational stewardship. We received them from people before us. We decide what condition they will be in when the next generation receives them from us.
I am glad this levy passed. I would be more encouraged if many more of us had helped decide whether it should.
The children affected by these decisions cannot vote yet.
The least we adults can do is show up.