Just 15% showed up to vote for mayor in Jacksonville.

[Dappleganger]

This is beyond pathetic.

Edited to add: There will be a runoff as the top person didn't get 51% of the vote, but as it stands the guy who will win is Mike Hogan, that jerkoff who joked about bombing an abortion clinic.

I really, really, really hate Florida!

[Cirque du So-What]

1. People get the government they deserve

and those who are too lazy to get off their asses in order to vote deserve morons in elected office. Too bad that those who voted for other candidates have to suffer, though.

[PA Democrat]

2. It's really frustrating that so few people vote in local elections.

I've worked on a number of campaigns for local offices and I was shocked how few of my neighbors bothered to vote in non-national elections. Our candidates lost and now the same people who couldn't be bothered to vote are upset about many of the very issues that our candidates had pledged to address. It's really sad because some of those elections were lost by less than 10 votes.

[spanone]

3. seems the voters will get exactly what they deserve. what does it take to get people to vote?

people in the world are dying for the right to vote and americans can't be bothered

[murielm99]

4. I guess they get what we have in Wisconsin, Ohio,

Michigan and a few other places. If they had voted in the first place, they would not have to work so hard or take the time, expense and grief it will take to fix these things later.

I have worked in local elections, too, and it just stuns me how many people don't bother to vote. They vote every four years in the Presidential elections, if at all.

Some of these very people yell about local control, which we are losing. But they would not know their school board members or county board members if they were bitten by them. It gets discouraging.

[Dappleganger]

8. Quite true. And this Hogan is a "fake" teabagger as well...

he is drawing a state pension and will be getting a mayor's salary all at once (something most teabaggers hate, but hey--it's ok here in FL!).

[Taitertots]

5. Why not just say politicians turn off 85% if the Florida population?

After all, it is the politicians job to convince people they should vote for them.

[Dappleganger]

6. The voting results reflect the actual ignorance and apathy of the electorate.

When we first arrived down here a decade ago and then Peyton was elected, I kept thinking to myself, "Four more years and there will be a change for the better."

Four years later they re-elected Peyton, then I thought the same, "Just four more years before we can turn things around."

Now, we have this First Baptist church teabagger/Rick Scott wannabe who will likely be elected mayor for another four years.

The only thing I can surmise is that Jackassonians are just plain stupid for the most part, don't care about moving forward and are content to let their downtown continue to be razed and shuttered while continuing in their racist neanderthal ways.

I give up. Our kids are staying here to go to college and tech school, but as soon as they're done I am kicking them out of the house and hopefully out of the state. The only thing which will save them is tough love--as much distance and time between Floriduh and them as possible.

[Taitertots]

10. What were you doing during the four years you were waiting for change?

Turning more of the 85% off your cause by insulting people and being condescending? Teaching your children to run away instead of working to make your society better?

Give up...Giving up implies that you were doing something. What are you no longer going to do to make Florida better?

[Dappleganger]

12. Trying to drum up support for no-good democratic candidates.

Are you really going to try to turn this on *my* head? BTW, we don't live in Jax but the metro area so can't even vote (as if that would make any difference now).

No, not run away--run toward a better future because we love them and want them to have a fighting chance. They won't in this state.

Personally, I don't intend to spend more energy here wrt to "making it better" politically. I will continue to concentrate on issues with the homeless and fighting for teacher's rights, that's it.

[Taitertots]

13. Why are you calling them "no-good"?

Being good and being a good politician are two wildly different things. If 85% of the population don't care enough to vote, it is up to the politicians to convince them that they are correct and worth voting for.

"Personally, I don't intend to spend more energy here wrt to "making it better" politically. I will continue to concentrate on issues with the homeless and fighting for teacher's rights, that's it."
Don't you think that changing the political landscape is a great way to cause that to happen.

[Dappleganger]

15. Why don't you read up on the history of the FL Democratic Party...

and then we'll have discuss it further.

madfloridian and other FL DU'ers know exactly what this is about.

[Taitertots]

16. For the sake of brevity, why don't you give me a heads up what I should be looking for?

I don't generally keep up on state politics in other States. Are you saying that there are good reasons to oppose Florida Democratic politicians that I'm not aware of?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

7. I love Florida. I just hate Florida's politics.

Oh, how I hate Florida's politics.

This state shouldn't deserve the horrible people running it.

[Dappleganger]

9. Unfortunately I don't love Florida either...

this place has become a real cesspool over the past decade.

The beach is nice, as are the Keys--that's it.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

11. Beaches, Keys, natural springs, Everglades, climate, diverse wildlife....

...all reasons why despite the major drawbacks (namely politics and greedy land developers) I'd rather live in this state than any other state in the Continential U.S. (Hawaii might be nice, I'll admit.)

[EFerrari]

14. That's about thee points worse than the fake election in Haiti last Sunday.

In Haiti peopl didn't vote because their candidates were banned from the ballot.

What's the deal in Jacksonville?

[NightWatcher]

17. now if they'll just pick up all their damn signs

Weeks of ads and all they got was 15% turnout, nice?

I think that means 85% of the voters were turned off. Myself included. Sorry, I didnt see where it mattered since a puke will most likely win a run off.