Start Local

Last week, I blogged about a fictional president, Dave. This week, I am reminded that very soon, we will inaugurate a new president, a real one. Here are some distressing facts.

There are 245 million Americans legally eligible to vote. And 36% or 88 million chose not to speak in the election, by that I mean vote. Why did so many people decide not to speak? I would rule out the reason that 88 million people don’t care.

Research from prior elections state that people do not vote if they don’t like the candidates or they don’t relate to the issues. The next reason is that they don’t think their vote matters. Hmm… 88 million votes don’t matter? The next reason after that is “too busy.”

Many people talk about this subject, and I found only one person, who I believe, that says we really don’t know why.

David Becker, who led Pew’s election work before launching the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR), an organization whose goal is to increase voter turnout, said none of those potential causes are wholly responsible for the dismal turnout statistics.

“The short answer you’ll probably hear is nobody really knows,” Becker said. “There has been a lot of money and a lot of efforts to increase turnout. There is no one answer to why, all we can say is here is the effect.”

I think the issue is simple and complex. I think we speak when we feel safe and when we think that speaking matters. I think we speak when we have had some positive impact so that we can then believe that if we speak again, we can again have a positive impact. I don’t think we are all expecting to get our wants met. I think we are expecting to be heard and have our needs met.

Let me give you a reason to take a chance to speak up. In the Strategic Planning process, we had surveys and meetings to get staff input. In one of those meetings, we heard something about our employee benefits. We offer free life insurance, which is portable when you leave/retire. We didn’t know that the benefit was cut in half when a person turned 70. So up until that day, the insurance would pay $10K if you passed away. Then on the day you turn 70, it would pay $5K. This practice is a standard in the industry for term life insurance policies. But more people are working into their 70s and the day you turn 70, the funeral will not be cheaper!

So, we contacted our broker and took action. We got quotes to increase the benefit. We are increasing the coverage from $10K to $20K for all staff at no cost to staff, and the benefit will NOT drop below $10K. This new benefit became effective on January 1, 2025, just a few months after we heard of the issue.

One employee made this comment. Another employee added some information on funeral cost. It was easy to make this change happen.

I guarantee you that all changes will not be as fast, but change can only happen when you speak up. 88 million votes matter. One person’s perspective matters too. Try it.