Respond to each peer initial post with 3-4 sentences long
Peer #1
I currently live in Liberty County Georgia in a small town called Allenhurst. Allenhurst is one of the small townships of the county. The largest town is Hinesville which is the location of the Army Base Fort Stewart. Liberty County is categorized as lower middle class, less educated and primarily composed of children and teenagers, college aged residents and young professionals (Liberty County High, n.d.). In the county there are approximately 62,500 people with approximately 23,000 households or families according to the 2015 Census. Of those 23,000 families almost 4000 are living in poverty (Quick Facts Liberty, 2015). A large percentage of the people are military or somehow affiliated so they are not grounded in the area. The reason why I provided the previous facts is because I believe that this is the reason why the citizens in and around this area are not very involved in the local government. In the town that I live in and the next smaller town Walthourville. The town Walthourville is named after the family that originally settled the area and that family still has a lot of control over the area. Another prominent name in the community is the last name Bacon. A host of the members of the population are from this family as well. Most of the political figures are friends and associates of the descendants of the Walthour and Bacon family.
People in this area do not turn out to vote as they should and it is mostly because they feel that their votes do not count or they are uninformed or uninterested. It is sad to say but this is what is happening throughout the nation. People overall think that their vote does not matter and are very uniformed on what is going on. I do not think that this is satisfactory especially considering all of the issues that occur in the area. The area is mostly lower income and Army people who are not very involved in politics. These people are affected the most by political decisions but they are the least concerned.
I always advocate that at the local level is where the most change happens and where it affects the day to day lives of citizens and that is where they should be the most involved. The local politicians are the most affluent and can basically buy their positions so they do not get must push back from people in the community. I for one like to be involved in what is going on in the area that I live in and try to know what is going on. Even I have a hard time finding out what is going on because things are not advertised and information is not readily available to the public. Everyone does not have the internet in order to go to the count and state sites to get election information and there is not much info in the local papers until the day of or after elections. I think that information needs to be posted in the local businesses and public areas where most of the people have visibility. This might improve the flow of information. Most importantly people have to care about the issues and care enough to vote. People need to get to know who they are voting for and why they are important. As cliché as it sounds knowledge is power.
Peer #2
The state holds all legal power. State and federal courts uphold the courts depending on localities (Bowman, 2014). According to Census Bureau, North Carolina has 7,656,415 in the voting age population in Guilford County. In the March 29th elections, only 122,897 out of 342,426 ballots were cast which is only about 38.89% of those registered.
Unfortunately, people are still unaware of the importance of casting their votes in their local area. This could be partly due to the lack of advertising and educating the people of those running for office and the impact one can have if they would take the time to vote. That is why as a Public Administrator it is so important to know the language of communication for the area you need to address. Knowing which field to use as it relates to politics, administration and public relations, is essential when wanting to speak with people in the community. Utilizing the correct terminology or on a level your audience will be able to understand is key to reaching the intending audience when educating them on what is going on around them.
As far as the turnout for local meetings, one would say, the attendance could be improved. In the past it has been seen that those meetings that are hot topics and that are shared over media or that the community is truly passionate about are the ones who have the larger turnout. An example would be zoning issues within Greensboro. When there is talk about developing certain establishments within a certain area. The people are there to advocate against these developments. Another big topic is budgets for certain jobs around the area. A lot of people want to know how these things come about. If they would take the time to vote, it is on the ballots.
In an effort to increase participation, local governments could provide more community outreach programs to make people aware of what is going on around them and keep communities involved. According to Bowman (2014), one of the major purposes of government is to provide services to citizens. We all know this money being that equipment has to be purchased to complete the job and employees must be paid. This is normally done when the government raises needed funds through taxes, fees, and borrowing (Bowman, 2014). In a democratic arena, the voters decide what range and quality of services they desire, and they register their decisions through elected representatives (Bowman, 2014). With that being said, citizens should not to be so laid back and think everybody in office is there to help them and need to do their research about those wanting to represent them. Unfortunately, once they are elected they will be there for at least two years.