EDITORIAL: Get out and vote in Tuesday's elections

Apr. 3—Tuesday is Election Day, and there are a variety of races and issues that need you to go to your local polling place and cast your ballot.

Go vote if you live in Joplin and want a say in which two new faces join the school district's Board of Education.

Go vote if you live in Carl Junction and have thoughts on the city's fourth attempt at a use tax, a tax on goods purchased online from retailers such as Amazon or other out-of-state vendors, or on the $7 million bond issue proposed by the school district for safety and security upgrades.

Go vote if you live in Neosho and want to choose which candidates will help expand the City Council from five members to seven. Like Carl Junction voters, you also have a use tax question.

Go vote if you live in Carthage and seek input across the city and school district, as you'll choose both school board and City Council members.

There are races and issues to be decided as well in small communities, including Duenweg, Jasper, Sarcoxie and Oronogo.

Municipal elections in April are never quite as exciting as November's general elections. There are rarely controversial issues that encourage people to get out of the house and vote, nor are there generally candidates about whom voters feel very strongly, as they do with presidential or gubernatorial candidates.

But municipal elections are arguably the most important we could ever choose to vote in. They cover the most local races and issues, those that will have the most direct impact on our day-to-day lives. Choosing a presidential candidate based on his or her foreign policy platform likely won't affect us in a significant way, but we definitely would notice a hypothetical local city council candidate who wants to eliminate his or her city's budget for repairing potholes, for example.

"City and municipal governments are responsible for concerns such as police department budgeting, education reform, lower-level courts and local infrastructure. Although the federal government can attempt to address issues in these fields, much of its actions will lack oversight and come in the form of funding with no policy prescriptions," the Harvard Political Review reported last year. "Voters whose top priorities involve improving the communities around them should, in addition to learning more about federal elections, bolster their participation in local politics. ... Democracy is at its best when the people's voices are heard."

Make your voice heard. On Tuesday, go vote.