02/27/14: Yet another low turnout at the polls

This op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on the date shown.

THERE ARE two phrases often used in politics that can seem trite and overused. But they are neither. They reflect the realities of our system of electing those who would represent us.

Tuesday’s special election for the 100th District in the House of Delegates is instructive of both — decisions are made by those who show up, and elections have consequences.

After the results were known election night, an email by House Speaker William J. Howell carried the subject, “Bloxom Wins, ObamaCare Loses.”

The opening paragraph of the speaker’s statement read, “Tonight, citizens of Virginia spoke loud and clear. They overwhelmingly elected Rob Bloxom as Delegate in Virginia’s 100th District and adamantly rejected ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion in Virginia.”

Let’s look at that, shall we?

The voters in the 100th who took the time to cast their ballots did choose Bloxom by a large margin over his opponent, Willie Randall — roughly 60 percent to 40 percent. That part of the speaker’s statement cannot be denied.

But the “citizens of Virginia” part is pure hyperbole. Just over 11,000 votes were cast; there are about 5.2 million registered voters in Virginia.

Even if we look just to the registered voters in the district, it is hard to make case: only about 23 percent of them participated in the election.

A more accurate statement would be that the participating voters in the 100th spoke loud and clear, proof that decisions are made by those who show up. A minority of the voters chose the representative for everyone else.

Perhaps if the other 77 percent had gone to the polls, the results would have been different. This district, after all, voted for President Barack Obama over Mitt Romney, 54 percent to 44 percent.

The hottest topic of the current General Assembly session is Medicaid expansion. But was that the only — or even most important — reason that voters chose Bloxom over Randall? We really have no way to know.

What we do know is that name recognition factors into voters’ choices — and the Bloxom name is well known on the Eastern Shore.

We know that money plays a role, as do endorsements. Most of the money raised by the candidates rolled in after the last official filings. The Virginian-Pilot editorial board endorsed Bloxom, although it disagreed with his position on Medicaid expansion.

One of the consequences of this election may very well be that Bloxom will be another vote against Medicaid expansion. But that’s hardly the only consequence, nor is it even the most important one.

The most important consequence is that the Republicans now have 68 seats in the 100-member House of Delegates. This is the largest majority that either party has had since 1981, when the Democrats had 75 seats.

Reading the tea leaves here, I’m not sure that Medicaid expansion in any form will make it out of the House.

But the majority provides the House with something else: the ability to override a veto the governor might make. Vetoes may be overridden with a two-thirds vote of the members.

At least one such bill — a school prayer bill — may be headed that way. Should it pass the House, the governor has said he will veto it. No doubt the House would vote to override the veto and would try to persuade the Senate, which passed the bill earlier, to do the same.

It can be hard to fathom, sometimes, that Virginians voted for Obama twice, elected two Democratic senators and yet has a Republican majority in its congressional delegation, in the House of Delegates and a split state Senate.

The voters who show up make these decisions. And we are all left with the consequences of the elections.

If you want different consequences, you have to participate in the process.