Poor Voter Turnout Indicates "Hapathy"

Posted from Royal Oak, Michigan--

Residents of Royal Oak, Michigan are either extremely happy and carefree about local politics or they just don't give a rip.  Or maybe they are happy and apathetic--  hapathetic.

Royal Oak is a vibrant community in Oakland County, one of the richest counties per capita in the United States.  The population in Royal Oak is approximately 57,000.   

As I post this blog, it's the dinner hour and I've just returned from the voting polls.  I sat at a new computer device and inserted my ballot into the scanner before considering who should be mayor and which new ordinances I should support. 

I used a piece of cardboard to cloak my ballot and protect it from wandering eyes.  Privacy, however, was not an issue on this election day.  There wasn't a person in line behind me or clusters of citizens at nearby machines. 

There wasn't a person within twenty feet of me.  In fact there were only a handful of voters in the entire gymnasium.  The  election workers far outnumbered the voters.  I was only the 138th person to vote in Royal Oak's Precinct 12 today.  As of 6:35 PM.

Cities all over the fruited plain reported abysmal voter turnout.   Three possible scenarios immediately come to mind:

1)  Local citizens don't care to vote because they are confident and happy about the course of local politics or

2)  Local citizens don't care to vote because they are disenfranchised with the process and are apathetic about local government or

3)  Local citizens don't care to vote because they are "hapathetic."

In any case, local citizens don't seem to care about local politics.