Curiosity was the original motivator, I believe. My boss and I were discussing voter turnout and, though we began at the federal level, since we are both Peachtree City residents, it shortly turned to our municipal election to occur in about six weeks, on Nov. 3, 2009.

I made what I thought was a low-ball guess at what voter turnout we would see at our polls, percentage-wise. He snorted and suggested a much lower figure, which surprised me.

That discussion really piqued my interest and led me to study the county voter records (www.fayettecountyga.gov/elections/index.asp).

Sad to say, and I’m sure you have guessed it by now: his estimates were optimistically high.

Although the precise value depends upon the source one uses for turnout data, our 2008 presidential election saw approximately 56 percent of the nation’s voting age population travel to the polls, so I felt my estimate of roughly half that for our local elections might be relatively accurate.

Guess again, naive man. Only 13.9 percent of registered voters turned out to vote for the two council seats contested here in our fair city in the November 2007 elections.

As a nation, our level of voter participation badly trails the pack of other first world democracies. Australia with 95 percent, Germany with 86 percent and Norway with 81 percent are but a smattering of the other democratic countries that appear to take this critical right seriously.

But we mustered slightly less than one in seven for our last municipal contest.

What is his point, you say? It is this: We owe it to ourselves and our country to get to the polls.

Have you moaned and complained about the direction our country has taken at the federal or state or local level, yet not exercised your voting privilege, one of the greatest rights guaranteed us, one which our forefathers – and many servicemen and women since — held so dear?

While of course I’d love to see you vote for me (www.votedyer.com) on Nov. 3, far more importantly, I urge you to go to your polling place and exercise your precious freedom.

Les Dyer

Candidate, Peachtree City Council Post 4