Sunday Poll: Will You Vote In Tuesday’s Primary?

Today’s non-scientific poll has nothing to do directly with political parties, candidates, ballot questions, etc. Instead, today’s poll is simply about voting itself.

Americans appear to be more engaged with this year’s midterm elections than they typically are. Not only do about half of registered voters report being more enthusiastic than usual about voting, up from 40% in 2014, but turnout has surged in the 31 states that already have held their congressional primaries – particularly among Democrats.

In those states, nearly 13.6 million people – or 10.1% of registered voters – have voted in Democratic primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of state election returns. By this point in the 2014 midterm election cycle, fewer than 7.4 million people – or 6% of registered voters – had cast ballots in Democratic House primaries. (The same 31 states have held primaries as by this date in 2014.) (Pew Research)

Are you more engaged this year, will you be voting on Tuesday?  Here’s the official poll question:

As always, this poll will close at 8pm.

— Steve Patterson

Missouri’s Primary is Tuesday August 7th

Missouri’s primary election is next week, Tuesday. I’ve already voted absentee, hopefully you plan to vote. I covered the St. Louis ballot here, and St. Louis County here. However, last week I neglected to mention three charter amendments on every St. Louis County ballot, all are yes/no questions:

CHARTER AMENDMENT – ST. LOUIS CO. – PROPOSITION 2 
Shall the St. Louis County Charter be amended as proposed by Ordinance No. 27,057 enacted on the 29th day of May, 2018? Said charter as so amended would provide that the council may appoint an attorney, licensed to practice law in Missouri, to its executive staff, and enter into a contract with outside private counsel, who shall be an attorney licensed to practice law in Missouri.   

CHARTER AMENDMENT – ST. LOUIS CO. – PROPOSITION 3 
Shall the St. Louis County Charter be amended as proposed by Ordinance No. 27,058, enacted on the 29th day of May, 2018? Said charter as so amended would provide that the term employment as used in the County Charter, Section 2.170, shall be strictly interpreted as prescribed in state law, specifically 8 CSR 10-4.150, as that regulation existed on April 12, 2018.

CHARTER AMENDMENT – ST. LOUIS CO. – PROPOSITION 4 
Shall the Charter of St. Louis County be amended to provide for the regulation of campaign contributions, the regulation of interdepartmental fund transfers, and a website to publish certain county financial documents, as set forth in Exhibit A of Ordinance No. 27,059 on file with the St. Louis County Administrative Director and St. Louis County Board of Election Commissioners?

I’m not familiar with the issues so I’m not going to weigh in on them, just want every voter to know what to expect so they can decide how they plan to vote before Tuesday. You can begin research into these amendments at St. Louis Public Radio.

Along the line of being an informed voter, I highly recommend every Missouri voter use Missouri’s Voter Outreach Center to find the candidates & issues based on your address & party preference.

— Steve Paterson

Readers Represent a Diverse Range of Ages

Each Sunday Poll is non-scientific, so we can’t extrapolate draw any conclusions bigger than the number of responses. The recent Sunday Poll results, however, do confirm my experience over nearly 14 years.

Q: Which age group are you in?

• 19 or younger: 0 [0%]
• 20-29: 3 [8.57%]
• 30-39: 10 [28.57%]
• 40-49: 6 [17.14%]
• 50-59: 7 [20%]
• 60-69: 8 [22.86%]
• 70-79: 1 [2.86%]
• 80 or olde: 0 [0%]
• Prefer not to answer: 0 [0%]

Readers come from all age groups — younger and older than my 51+ years. That’s very rewarding to know.

Today is my husband’s 35th birthday. Yes, I’m 16 years & 5 months older then he is. I was driving and about to enter my junior year of high school when he was born. Relax, he was 29 when we met.

I’m Gen-X, he’s Gen-Y. We learn from each other, he helps keep me young(-ish). He also helps me by explaining who people are since I’m no longer clued in on musicians, actors/actresses. etc. He’s feeling old at 35, but I guess I did too. Can’t remember that far back.

My oldest brother will turn 70 in less than two years. His first grandchild, my great-niece, turned 20 last month.   I assume those of you with children & grandchildren understand this, but for those of us without kids we don’t experience them growing up daily like you do. It seemed like one day she was all about American Girl and the next she’s in college.

It seems like my husband and I spend more time watching Netflix/YouTube than watching broadcast television. So very different than just a decade ago. We both like watching React videos.  Here’s a fun one watching kids react to rotary phones.

This was all we had when I was a kid. I still remember when AT&T was broken up and we got newer phones that plugged into a wall jack rather than be hard wired. I love watching these kids try to figure out how to text on a rotary phone!

The other side of the spectrum is elders (boomers) react. My particular favorites relate to the only video hame I’ve played: Grand Theft Auto V. First the reached to the trailer, a year later they played the game.  Don’t worry, they bleeped out “expressive language.”

What’s fascinating about the above is their different reactions and views on the influence of violent video games. If you enjoyed watching the elders play GTAV, later they return to get a tattoo. visit the strip club, go to the beach, and fly a helicopter. Again, it’s PG. I want to have a beer with Catherine.

Remember we can learn from each other, so be open to the views and experiences of those who are both younger and older than you are. By all means, enjoy the package of time.

— Steve Patterson