Attention TLS readers,

Every election season our community does something impressive. We organize, we drive people to the polls, we make sure the numbers are there for the big races at the top of the ballot. And then, all too often, a good number of us stop reading.

I understand why. The top lines get the mailings, the robocalls and the shul announcements. The rest of the ballot looks like small print. But the small print is where Lakewood actually lives.

This year, look at what sits below the big races. Two seats on the Lakewood Township Committee, the people who decide on parking, roads and the ordinances we complain about on the way home from Maariv. The Board of Fire Commissioners, which sets the budget for the people who show up when we call. A county question on whether to raise the open-space tax, which touches every homeowner’s bill and how much land in this county gets built on in the years ahead. And a question on the size of our own Board of Education.

You may love these items or you may hate them. That isn’t my point. My point is that a line you skip is a decision you have handed to someone else. Local races are decided by far fewer votes than the headline races, which means each of our votes counts for more there, not less.

Ballots can be confusing, with different offices and questions crowded onto one page. So here is a small request. Before you go in, take five minutes with your sample ballot. Read every line, including the questions at the bottom. Decide ahead of time. If you don’t know enough about a race, ask someone you trust or look it up.

We daven for wise leaders. The least we can do is take the time to choose them carefully, all the way down the ballot.

A Voter Who Reads The Whole Ballot

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