The Peru Gazette

Here’s a small portion of the just-posted North Country Public Radio article on the impact of local elections. It points to a serious problem in all communities—a lack of involvement in local government, civic and veterans organizations, and faith communities. It makes one wonder about our nation’s future.

ON KEEPING A COMMUNITY RUNNING

Lynn Hall is three years into a four-year term as a councilperson on the Town of Potsdam Board. She says the issues that town and local officials deal with aren’t always exciting. “But they’re really important for people to have a good life, to be able to live in a town without problems,” said Hall.

Often, they’re dealing with infrastructure issues and taxes. “You know, to sustain just your everyday life, you need people to make those decisions,” she said.

Hall thinks it’s easy to think of ‘politics’ as something that’s happening, instead of something you’re involved in. As a professor at SUNY Potsdam, she said she sees this in her own union. “You know, people say ‘I wonder what the Union will do about it.’ And I want to say, ‘Well, we are the Union. You are the Union!”

Still, Hall said she understands disengagement, “and I’m certainly guilty.” Hall said she rarely attended town board meetings until she became a council person, after someone asked her to run.

Serving makes Ha;; feel a lot closer to her community, but it also has challenges.

“It’s rewarding because you feel like you’re doing something for your town and the people who live there. I really enjoy the people I work with. I didn’t know any of the town board members and I got to know them and you know, we’re talking about important issues and that is very engaging in that way,” said Hall. “What’s frustrating? Lack of involvement.”

When Hall was elected in 2021, less than a third of Potsdam’s registered voters cast a ballot. “So that’s a very small number of people who are showing their investment in who is making the decisions in their municipalities,” said Hall.

Civic involvement, like volunteerism, is on the decline. But Hall says that communities need people “to advocate for our towns and our villages at the state level particularly, and at the federal level.”