Don’t forget to go vote today

“We do not have the government by the majority. We have the government by the majority who participate” — Thomas Jefferson.

Citizens of Poteau, your ability to choose the Chief of Police and the Street Commissioner is up for vote today. Wow, that seems pretty shocking.

This is not “new news,” if you read The Poteau Daily News and have read when editor David Seeley covers the Poteau City Council meetings. By the way, did you know that this local newspaper is not locally owned (as it’s owned by Horizon Publications out of Chicago), and there is no reporter (as in a second reporter as in past years) that works for this newspaper?

This newspaper is published three days a week with a tiny staff out of a small, local office. In my opinion, David does his best to cover local news and events above and beyond his job description for the love of journalism. Kudos to David!

In last Tuesday’s, Thursday’s and Saturday’s editions, David reported to us about today’s special vote — quoted from David article from Saturday’s edition:

“In October, the Poteau City Council approved by a 5-3 vote to put before the citizens of Poteau a chance to voice their thoughts about whether to keep the current system in place where Poteauians continue to vote for Poteau Police Department Chiefs and City of Poteau Street Commissioners, or allow the Poteau City Council to appoint the new Poteau PD Chiefs and Street Commissioners.”

Today, polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Poteau precincts only to approve the City Council to appoint each officer.”

To be clear, this is a special vote to make a permanent decision on how we elect these two officials. Do you want to change from Poteau’s current system of the citizens of Poteau voting for the Chief of Police and the Street Commissioner or letting the City Council choose for these positions?

To cast your vote, you must be a Poteau resident. Historically, voting turnout has been very low. Usually only a select representation shows up to vote. The last I heard early voting numbers were, as expected, very low. This is why every vote counts!

Back to David’s article. In his Saturday edition election preview story, he said, “Poteau Mayor Scotty White shared his pros and cons with both the current system and what would happen should the citizens of Poteau continue electing their police chiefs and street commissioners or let the City Council appoint those two officials.”

The article that David wrote continues with the Mayor’s personal explanation of the current system and the proposed system that we are voting on today. You can find the official version of the Mayor’s explanation and some discussion in the comments, on Scotty’s Facebook page, if you are inclined.

In person or over cups of coffee in the cafe, many people have commented that they, too, were surprised to learn about the vote being held today. Unfortunately, it seems like unless the news is spread by something like “tik tok,” it will just slowly fade away like trash in our street ditches until the real news is eventually swept away. I decided to look and see if I have missed some information or discussion out there. Wait, where does one look for real news these days? After searching around online, including the City of Poteau’s website, I couldn’t really find much of anything about this special vote other than what David has covered.

“In the October City Council meeting, Council members B.J. Johnson, Wimp Webb, Jim Holstead, Connie Shockley and Jim Sommers voted for the proposal, while council men Monte Shockley II, Tommy Robertson and Phillip Zearley voted against the measure,” David mentioned in both the October meeting story, and he reiterated it in Saturday edition’s election preview story.

These are our elected City Council. If you have any questions, these folks are the ones to ask. If we don’t vote, we are ignoring history and giving away the future. Talk to your family, friends and neighbors and make sure they vote.

Have a great week, and see you at The Cup.