Batavia Daily News for Monday: Fervent or inured? Why do you vote?

Today's Daily News is understandably devoted to election coverage. Four stories on the front page, plus another handful sprinkled through the rest of the paper take up everything from the musings of local voters to the specifics of some of the area's contested races—including the the 59th and 62nd State Senate districts, along with Town Board races in Le Roy and Albion. Heck, there's even an article on the uncontested race of state Assemblyman Steve Hawley.

Oddly, aside from a blurb in a wire story tucked into the bottom of page eight, there's no mention of the 61st Senate District race between Democrat Joe Mesi and Republican Mike Ranzenhofer. The 61st district includes Batavia and Genesee County. News of the 26th Congressional District race—aside from a brief mention of the ballot change on page two—was also relegated to page eight, and only as part of a larger wire story about national trends. Yet, again, that's the district that includes Batavia and Genesee County. Instead, the three race-specific front page stories take up contests in Orleans and Erie counties, as well as a piece on Hawley that amounts to little more than a pat on the back for the unopposed Assemblyman.

In an article by Roger Muehlig on page one, some area voters have their say on the imminent elections. I was especially intrigued by the comments from Jim McNally of Batavia who told Muehlig:

...he plans to vote, but probably won't decide who gets his vote until he's in the voting booth.

"I don't think much of this because I don't like anybody who's running," he said.

McNally, 45, said he wasn't just referring to the presidential candidates.

"Any of them."

So many news outlets have been billing this election as "historic"—an amorphous, often meaningless designation—and have frequently made stories out of record voter registration across the country and the ineluctable enthusiasm of the populace. Yet we still have folks out there who are completely uninspired by the slate of candidates from top to bottom. Such people—and I sometimes count myself among their ranks, depending on my mood—don't at all exhibit the sense of urgency that we've been made to believe reigns supreme.

Muehlig's article is a perfect example of this. It's a well-crafted piece of journalism that fulfills its simple promise of man-on-the-street news reporting. Yet the title—Fervor mounts as vote nears—seems directly contradicted by the content. Sure, there are a couple people in the article who could... maybe... be categorized as fervent about the upcoming election. But for the most part, the tenor is more dispassionate than zealous.

In addition to McNally, who flat out admits his dissatisfaction with all of the candidates, Muehlig chats up local business owner Steve Mullen, who says: "he'll be glad when the election is over." Then there's Doug Boatfield of Le Roy, who says that he plans to vote for Sen. John McCain, but does not say why he likes McCain, but why he dislikes Sen. Barack Obama.

Then, at the very end of the article, in a brilliant move on the author's part, Muehlig writes:

Back at the City Centre, one man said he couldn't vote because he is a felon. Another said he's not voting and never has.

Why? "Laziness," he said.

And there it ends! I'll say it again, Muehlig's article is brilliant and totally misrepresented by the headline, which seems to give in fully to the national trend of playing up the election hype. A better editor would have recognized th gem Muehlig produced and given it a better designation, but that's neither here nor there, in the end.

Now, all analysis aside... what is the real issue here? There are certainly people out there who are very worked up about the election—and I sometimes count myself among their ranks, depending on my mood. Did Muehlig, then, just happen to run into the unenthusiastic? What have you seen? Are people fervent or are they dispassionate?

Obviously, there are both sides out there. But we would like to hear to which camp you belong, and why.

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