Interest in local elections in Jefferson this fall appears to be greater than usual. It’s a good thing.

City council and school board elections in Iowa are held in odd-numbered years. In both 2021 and 2023, out of about 3,100 registered voters in the city of Jefferson, only a little more than 1,200 voted. A turnout of about 40 percent.

That’s not enough.

In even-numbered years, when national and/or state races are on the ballot in Iowa, Greene County’s turnout nears 70 percent. That’s approaching twice what it’s been recently in local elections.

Are national and state government twice as important to us as local elected councils and boards?

A turnout of less than half the registered voters calls into question the “legitimacy” of the winners. Not the actual legal legitimacy, of course, but the validation that winning candidates deserve from their constituents.

Local residents who submit themselves to their neighbors to serve as leaders and policy-makers in their local governments don’t do it for the money, at least not in small-town Iowa. I remember, decades ago, when the Jefferson City Council doubled council members’ salaries: from $5 a meeting to $10. That was because a council member was paying a babysitter at his home more than he was getting to attend the meeting.

And school board members earn exactly nothing for their service in that capacity.

Decisions made at the local level, needless to say, rarely enjoy unanimous support in the public. The higher the election turnout, the greater the comfort level of elected officials in making the tough policy choices.

And that’s the primary job of local elected officials: to set policy. If an action by a particular employee raises objections among local residents, elected officials will feel more confident in discussing with top administrators how to handle the situation if they earned their seats on the council or board through a strong election day turnout.

Campaign donations are important in elections, at every level. Some candidates enjoy large donations, both cash and in-kind, and some even get funds and help from outside their own community. Some don’t. Money helps candidates get their message out. But at the local level, personal acquaintance and resident-to-resident discussion carry more weight than in elections on a larger scale. A big election turnout can mean more to local candidates than it does for public bodies that represent larger constituencies.

Some communities end up with vacancies on their local ballots, from lack of candidate interest and/or reluctance to serve. That’s not the case here. The Jefferson City Council has five members, with three of those seats up for election on November 4. Six candidates are vying for those three seats.

The Greene County Community School Board, also a five-member body, likewise has three seats on the election ballot. Seven candidates are running for those three school board seats.

Local residents owe it to those seeking to serve on those bodies, and they owe it to themselves, to choose who will set policies for their town and their school. Early voting is now open in the east assembly room on the ground floor of the courthouse during courthouse hours. And on Election Day Tuesday, Nov. 4, polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Dictatorships boast about high election turnouts. We should be able to at least match them.

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Rick Morain is a retired 45-year editor-publisher of the Jefferson Bee and Herald newspapers, where he continues to cover local government meetings and write a weekly column.