Three things undervotes taught me about democracy

Enough about voting: what didnt we vote for?

Here's a ranked list of the decisions Clark County voters avoided ("undervoted") Tuesday, based on Thursday's totals.

- Bergeson/Dorn for superintendent of public instruction (18.5 percent didn't vote)
- Chandler/Gotts for state rep in the 15th District (10.4 percent)
- Kreidler/Adams for insurance commissioner (10.1 percent)
- Newhouse/Berman for the other state rep in the 15th District (9.8 percent)
- Moeller/Bomar for state rep in the 49th District (9.8 percent)

(…skip a few…)

- Baird/Delavar for U.S. rep (4.8 percent didn't vote)
- I-1029 on elder-care certification (4.7 percent)
- I-1000 on assisted suicide (2.9 percent)
- Gregoire/Rossi for governor (2.7 percent)
- Obama/McCain/etc. for president (0.35 percent)

What's to learn?

1) Party labels are all the information many voters have. The state's top schools position is both obscure and nonpartisan, and 1 in 5 voters avoided it. (Maybe that's why the guy who's probably won, Randy Dorn, wants his office to be appointed instead of elected.) Here in the 'Couv, Mike Bomar ran against Jim Moeller as a free-market independent, which probably discouraged Republican voters who weren't sure if Bomar would be their guy.

2) When a legislative district runs all the way from Yakima to Washougal, people outside Washougal start feeling alienated. Especially when one of them claims that his nickname is "Jobs."

3) When substantive information actually appears on ballots (as with initiatives), people vote.

michael.andersen@columbian.com