Nov 13, 2017 3 min read

Last Tuesday’s off-year election produced another anemic turnout, both locally and statewide, despite many important municipal and statewide races being on the ballot.

The well-known expression that “my vote doesn’t count” appeared to be in play once again as only one-quarter of Pennsylvania’s electorate bothered to show up at the polls.

But that myth should be put to rest for good now that the Greene County coroner’s race is still too close to call a week after Election Day, as only one vote separates incumbent Greene County Coroner Gregory Rohanna and challenger Gene Rush. Rohanna leads with 3,352 votes to Rush’s 3,351. There are still two provisional votes and one absentee ballot that must be added to the count, meaning the two candidates could tie.

How many people in Greene County who didn’t show up to vote last Tuesday are wondering right now if they could have made a difference?

Probably 9,040, to be exact.

That’s the difference in the number of people who showed up for this municipal election compared to last year’s presidential race that netted a 74 percent turnout in Greene County.

Now, extrapolate that difference in turnout to every school board, township supervisor and borough council election in the county. One vote might not have changed the outcome of those races, but those 9,040 people who sat out this election could have made a difference overall.

Statewide, there also were many important races, especially for one seat on the state Supreme Court and numerous judicial positions on the Superior and Commonwealth courts. As expected, interest in the judicial branch is limited.

But that expected low turnout was probably the reason for a convoluted referendum over possible changes to the existing property tax system. The meandering sentence was confusing in the voting booth and never truly described what would happen if voters approved it.

It did pass by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin, but what will change? Not much.

That’s because the state Legislature must now formulate a way to implement the changes. But in an election year in 2018 for both the Legislature and governor’s office, not much will get done.

Speaking of 2018, there will be many interesting races on the ballot at the state and federal levels. The vacancy created by former congressman Tim Murphy’s resignation last month will allow for a special election in March to fill his seat for the remainder of the year. The primary battle for the district seat in May should be even more combative as a large group of Republicans and Democrats are now lining up.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Brandon Neuman’s election to serve as Washington County judge beginning in January will leave his legislative seat up for grabs. It’s still unclear whether there will be a special election to fill the seat or if his position will remain vacant for the rest of the year. Either way, the area will be getting a new state representative.

And that doesn’t even include other incumbents up for re-election, such as state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, Gov. Tom Wolf and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey. There will be much intrigue in 2018.

If we learned anything from the Greene County coroner’s race, every vote does count. Now, if only enough people believe that, then they might make a difference next year.