According to the voter registration data at the Pennsylvania Department of State Website, 77 percent of Lancaster County’s population over 18 population is eligible to vote. Applying that formula to Columbia’s population of 10,381, roughly 6,100 people might be registered.
Unfortunately not everyone who’s registered to vote does, just look at the voting record of some current elected public officials for an example of that. Some of them only register to vote when they decide to run for office.
In any event, off-year elections (when there’s not a presidential election) produce a lower voter turnout. In the last presidential election, only 58% of the voter-age population went to the polls. In Pennsylvania’s goofy primary elections in which only party affiliated persons can vote, that percentage is far, far lower. Odds are, today, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30% of the voting public will decide who holds elected office positions for the next several years.
Bottom line, today is the day that a small percentage of people who are registered to vote will decide who will impact the future of a much higher percentage of people. And in the most important of these elections – local level offices – the people who will win will determine how revenue streams are built and expense items are created. These are the folks who set your taxes and enact local legislature.
In Lancaster County, 53% of registered voters are registered as Republicans; 32%, Democrats. That seems makes little difference however, as most local politicians make decisions not along party line, but along personal lines. Heck, in school board and certain other contests, the office seekers run on both slates.
So, if you’re not registered to vote, you cannot vote today.
If you’re like many others, you’ll not make time to vote today.
The outcome: a small share of ‘hard-core” party-line voters will show up and vote for the folks who they feel will accommodate them and their pet projects.
In Columbia, will more than 20% of the 6,100 registered adults vote today? Here are recent election results for Lancaster County.
It’s too late to register to vote now, but there’s always next year. Register to vote. Or look here for a comprehensive PA voting portal.
Photo source: salesforlife.com
If you are registered,, today American citizens registered to vote get the opportunity to do what so many in the world do not!
The ability to vote to change things or to keep things just as they have been. That’s true, too, in Columbia.
To see the sample ballot for your ward, click here and fill in the blanks:
Or click on the link to each ward below to see a sample ballot for that ward.
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