EDITORIAL: Remember to turn in your ballot today

Every vote counts.
Whether you are a conservative happy with the direction of the Santa Barbara City Council, or a liberal demanding change, today is your last opportunity to make your voice heard.
Santa Barbara’s Vote-by-Mail election concludes today. City officials want your ballot by 8 p.m. today. If you haven’t mailed your ballot, don’t; the city urges you to drop it off at City Hall or at one of the four other drop off spots.
It doesn’t matter who you vote for, but it’s important that you cast a ballot.
It is a critical time in the history of Santa Barbara. The City Council is ruled by a conservative majority for the first time in decades. Liberals are looking to retake power at City Hall.
Whichever candidates you choose, you can take pride in having made an informed decision. You will have participated, made an effort to shape the community you live in, and as your conscience dictates.
Today the power to shape the city’s future lies with you.
The point is often made that our right to vote is a precious freedom, and though it might be overused and even cliche, it remains a good one. But perhaps even more important than the guilt-tripping sentimentality that should spur one to bubble in a ballot today, are the practical implications of casting a vote.
Think of this way. Santa Barbara has roughly 90,000 people. About 45,000 are registered to vote. Two years ago, about 22,000 people cast ballots, or about half of the registered voters in the city.
The top vote-getter in the City Council election two years ago was Grant House, with 9,679 votes. Only 47 votes separated third place winner Frank Hotchkiss and fourth place finisher Michael Self in the 2009 election. The difference in votes means that Hotchkiss won a four-year term and Self is running again two years later.
Every vote counts.

Local politics may not seem as glamorous or important as national politics. The council race, though engaging, has not delivered the high-quality entertainment of the Republican presidential candidate race. As far as we know, no Santa Barbara City Council frontrunner has been accused of groping anyone.

Yet whether we realize it on a daily basis or not, the decisions that impact our lives most intimately are often made just blocks away.
Every vote counts.