Specifically, I'm asking for school district election results from the past nine years — school board elections, special school elections, bond issues, and tax levies — in the hope of creating a publicly available database detailing turnout in those elections. While some county clerks have been forthcoming, others have come up with creative ways to avoid giving me the information.
A Jasper County employee, after covering the receiver, said something along the lines of "they'll just use it for political reasons," before refusing my request for any and all election results.
The employee hit the nail right on the head. Of course, the Show-Me Institute is going to use the results for political reasons. So what? The institute's record for taking facts and distorting them for its pro-voucher positions is consistent, but it does not matter what someone intends to do with public records...they are public records.
If Ms. Juedemann's account of the telephone conversation is accurate, at least one employee in the Jasper County Clerk's office needs a refresher course in the public's right to know. It is not restricted to people whose beliefs coincide with your own.
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Back to the Show-Me Institute. It appears obvious from Ms. Juedemann's post that Rex Sinquefield's crew is preparing to use the low turnout at school elections, which is for the most part a given, as a sign of the need for "choice" in education (in other words, pumping public money into private schools. It is a weak argument, especially when you consider that municipal elections are also held in April. Should we also turn over the management of cities to people who are unaccountable to the voters?
That kind of argument is not going to play well in Missouri, though, it will certainly get full publicity from the Joplin Globe, who ran a page-one story in last Sunday's edition on a dubious Show-Me Institute report, burying information about the Show-Me Institute's pro-voucher background at the end of the inside jump.
1 comment:
Randy,
I am commenting on your post for two reasons. First, to note that Jasper County complied with my request after an additional phone call directly to the county clerk. And second, to clear up any confusion about my intentions.
Although I work for the Show-Me Institute, which has a definite pro-school choice stance, my purpose in researching voter turnout in Missouri school district elections is not political advocacy of any kind.
I developed my line of inquiry independently, and it is nothing more than a research effort. I want to know what there is to know, not to "distort" numbers to support a position.
At this time, in fact, I have no opinion on school choice. I simply do not yet know enough about it.
And my posts are not designed to advocate for it, but rather to be informative to those interested in education voting.
Cynthia Juedemann
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