When it comes to politics, the main focus is generally national politics such as presidential, congressional, or representative elections. However, while these elections are important, those that take place closest to home are also particularly impactful. 

“The presidential elections, or the big Senates, or the House of Representatives, that gets all the [attention] but that doesn’t affect your everyday life,” U.S. Government teacher Adam Barclay said. “Your mayor, your city council, your school board— that affects your everyday life. You’re not gonna call the president to fix a pothole, right?” 

Local political leaders are far more likely to listen to community concerns than national leaders are. A prime example of a positive change stemming from local elections is Prosper’s recent population boom.

“[Prosper is] booming because the city has allowed that to happen, which you want, because it brings jobs and stuff like that,” Barclay said. “Prosper used to be a really small town ten years ago, now it’s huge, just blowing up. That’s your local government allowing those things to happen in the town, and as a result, you get jobs, economic growth, you get a boom in population and then you hopefully get prosperity in your town.”

One effective way to improve the community is by staying informed about local issues and voting accordingly. Voting is especially critical in local elections because a candidate can win by just a few votes due to their smaller scale.

“The percentage of people who vote in local elections is terrible,” Barclay said. “And then people wonder why when something goes crazy in their town. They’re like ‘wow these people are voting completely against what I would vote for! ’Did you vote in that election?’ ‘Well, no.’” 

According to the National Civic League, voter turnout for local elections typically hovers around 15-30% of the eligible voters. This small percentage can represent a minority viewpoint, leading to decisions that many residents do not support.

AP U.S. Government and AP U.S. History teacher Mandy Murphy provides the widening of Highway 380 as an example of this issue. My neighborhood actually is going to be very impacted because we’re now going to have ramps and everything else,” Murphy said. “We’re gonna see that impacting our traffic patterns coming up in the next couple of years here, for sure. It’s also going to affect businesses, because there’s going to now be 15 businesses that are going to have to close because they’re demolishing their buildings to expand this highway. So that’s going to impact our economy.”

Voting in local elections can prevent such situations from arising.

“If people were more in tune with local politics, they might know about some of those issues that are going to impact their daily lives,” Murphy said.