Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Sale Ol' Same Ol' in Roanoke Elections

In yet another example of voters yawning as they pass the polls, all three incumbents were re-elected to Roanoke City Council yesterday, a result that was not at all unexpected.

The leading vote-getter in the election was Democrat Dave Trinkle with 4,100 votes. That's 4,100 voters from a population of nearly 100,000 (I'm not sure how many of them are registered voters, but the percentage is laughable).

No. 2 and 3, Bill Bestpitch and Ray Farris, each running as an Independent (they had been Democrats) earned right at 3,000 votes. Two of my three votes went for candidates far down the line. A significant problem with the field was that it was extremely weak, one of the weakest in my memory. And that says that either people are satisfied with government or have stopped caring. Neither fits here, I think.

In any case, what we got was a resounding approval for the status quo--at least that's what the winners will read--and more of the same. And so it goes. (We can thank Jesus or whomever that no Republicans won, but we can also see that they finished just out of the money and begin to worry.)

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