Voters and State Election Participation

There is almost always reduced voter participation in state and local elections, as numbers reported in past races will testify. The likely cause is voters consider them less important than federal elections. They don’t get as much press and many voters fail to understand the importance of state and local elections. So let’s take a look at why we should change our minds about races closer to home.

Understanding Precincts and Districts

Your voter registration card tells you what precinct and what district you belong to. So who determines where you vote? State and local officials divide up the state into voting districts, and then they divide districts into precincts and assign those precincts to a specific voting location. Increasingly states are permitting mail-in ballots so voting locations are a non-issuse in those cases. However, even people voting by mail are assigned districts and precincts. Why is this important??

We are approaching another presidential election in November, 2020. Today SCJ takes a look at why we should consider voting a responsibility we cannot ignore.

Early in our country’s history, only white men could vote. Period. They managed the government and they managed voting for governmental officials. Very slowly, over the course of 200 years, Black men were given the vote. Then in 1920, the 19th Amendment was passed and all women were given the right to vote. In a democracy, voting is the means by which we citizens choose who we want to represent us in local, state and federal government. If you don’t vote, you likely don’t care who represents you.

As we age, we begin to face the decision regarding whether to remain at home or move into a care facility such as retirement home or assisted living or nursing home if that level of care is required. So many things to think about!

Sometimes the tough decision gets made for us as a result of illness, accident or some kind of impairment. In that case we may have to make the decision to move into assisted care or a nursing home because we simply can no longer care for ourselves. Close family and friends (hopefully!) are around to help with the decision as well as arrangements for the move.

Driving is not an issue seniors generally like to talk about. But there are times when it is prudent to take a look at the issue and deal with reality. The Center for Disease Control says, ” In 2017, almost 7,700 older adults (aged 65+) were killed in motor vehicle crashes, and more than 257,000 were treated in emergency departments for motor vehicle crash injuries.² This means that each day, approximately 20 older adults are killed, and an additional 700 are injured in motor vehicle crashes.” These figures exceed the national average.

Driving keeps us mobile and independent, but the older we get, the higher the risk of injury. The CDC reports “Older drivers, particularly those aged 75+, have higher crash death rates than middle-aged drivers (aged 35-54).³ Higher crash death rates among this age group are primarily due to increased vulnerability to injury in a crash.” The CDC has a really valuable web page that talks about senior citizens and driving, and SCJ recommends every senior study the page to learn valuable tools and information to remain safe while driving.

Advice From Experts

We read some more articles in the May, 2020, AARP Bulletin, finding one that is particularly helpful to seniors concerned about their investments. Jill Schlesinger interviewed eight financial experts and recorded their responses in this article, Expert Advice For Volatile Times. We summarize the article here, but encourage you go to to the original and read it carefully (just click on the link in the previous text).

Pandemic Surprises

Many of us seniors remember helping our parents and grandparents tend a garden. For those of us born in the depression era, gardening was a necessity. We had to grow our own food, can and sometimes freeze it in the fall, so we would have something to eat throughout the winter months. Some low-income families still consider gardening a necessity for putting a meal on the table. There are even non-profit organizations that teach people in need how to garden and put healthy food on their tables. This pandemic we are living through can lead us on to better choices about what we grow and eat, if we allow ourselves to learn.

One in three families in the United States have a garden. And many people are taking up gardening during the COVID-19 pandemic that requires us to stay home. But if you have never gardened, how do you know where to begin?