Election Apathy Among Eagle Mountain Voters Continues

Apathy – lack of interest or concern – absence of compulsion to or toward one thing or another. The voter turnout for 2021 Mayor and City Council Election (two City Council seats were up for election as well as the Mayor Seat) was only 24% of registered voters. This is not the lowest it has been in Eagle Mountain History, but it is also not the highest it has been. We live in a Constitutional Republic, where we vote for elected officials that then represent us to make laws and decisions for us as a whole. Montesquieu, a French political philosopher once said, “The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” Montesquieu, Great Quotations, p. 38.

Apathy can be experienced by anyone. Benjamin Rush a Founding Father of the United States who also signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia admitted that he was suffering from apathy. In a letter to John Adams on 12 February 1790 he stated, “Such is my apathy now to public Affairs that I often pass whole weeks without reading our Newspapers.—I have never Once been within the doors of our Convention, nor have I broken bread with a single member of the body who compose it.” [SOURCE] I think this is also true with the majority of residents in Eagle Mountain. They are not reading the news on Eagle Mountain, and have not watched, or interacted with any of the City Council, Mayor or Planning Commission meetings. Dawn, an Eagle Mountain resident shared this, “Because it 100% doesn’t matter. City officials do nothing out here.“

Why the apathy?

To help understand this, I asked the question on the Eagle Mountain Citizens Facebook page to see what the reasons for the low voter turnout is. Here are some of the responses I received as well as some solutions that were proposed by residents.

I think that this comment sums up the feeling for most of the residents in Eagle Mountain that did not vote, and some that did vote.

I didn’t vote because there hasn’t been any issues I felt very strongly about. I’m content with how the city has been ran. So I’m more of a go-with-the-flow non-voter until I strongly feel leaders are going off track. I’m an executive for a company I work for and I know first hand how difficult leadership and decision making is. We are all flawed and for the most part, have good intention to do what’s best with the people and information we have. Regardless who is in office there are always going to be counter balances so things tend to slowly tap in one direction or another so generally I’m fine with the majority’s decision. I do believe voters should be informed and strategic about their decisions otherwise voting just to get someone you like in office will be disappointing because they won’t be able to do what they promised because of the counter-balanced system. Kinda like Biden not getting his agenda because of congressional counter-balance.

Facebook User

Here are some of the additional comments that were made on Facebook.

• didn’t feel informed enough to vote – Michelle S
• just wasn’t a ton of info about the candidates available online. – Kjersty B
• I’m gonna be totally honest, I just don’t care enough. – Tyler B
• There was not enough info on the candidates and there wasn’t really any difference between them. – La Sche L
• Because it 100% doesn’t matter. City officials do nothing out here. – Dawn G
• the main reason I didn’t vote was because I forgot until the end of the day and the polls closed – Holly B
• I mean tbh I feel like it’s not up to the citizens and it’s up to the government, city, etc. cuz who cares what we think – Katelyn H
• Didn’t know enough about the candidates running. – J Girard
• My guess would be that people just ignore politics and I don’t blame them. – Tim H
• I didn’t realize the polls closed at 8:00 and I showed up at 8:15! – Melissa N
• I am new to the area and there was confusion with the registration, etc. – Karyn T
• I voted, but in a few cases I just took a guess because I couldn’t find detailed information. – Phillip G
• I forgot to send my ballot in! – Shanna H
• I did vote, but I literally felt like I was guessing the whole thing. – Carol M
• Between my full time job and full time schooling I didn’t have time to look up the candidates. – Lindsey R
• I feel like candidates need to get out there more on discussions in social media. – Sheila H

What now?

There have been several suggestions on what can be done. It looks like the majority of the people feel that they don’t have enough information to vote. Below are some of the suggestions that people have given as to what can be done to increase voter turnout.

I voted, but I believe one thing that may increase voter turnout is sending a voter information packet to each household with registered voters. The packet should contain a write-up by candidates telling constituents why they are running, what they stand for, and why they believe they are qualified. For policy decisions, a description of the policy and its intended purpose should be written by those proposing the policy change. The policy portion should also contain a pro argument written by a proponent and a con argument written by an opponent.

Tyler M

I voted, and I greatly appreciated the questionnaires that you did for the candidates and was quite disappointed that some candidates didn’t respond because there was little opportunity to get to know candidates, not a lot of information on them, and the responsiveness of them was quite varied. In my experience (I ran for city council in Provo in 2005), candidates themselves can probably do the most to increase turnout by how they campaign, having specific things to run on that people care about, and engaging in the community.

Adam C

I’m shocked at the voter numbers. Especially with the number of people upset about the direction the city is taking. I wish terms were a shorter length because maybe people would get more informed and vote if they felt the candidates were more likely to action things they talk about when they’re running. I do think more people are waking up in the last two months and paying more attention that the developments and approvals are done by the officials they vote in. So it does make a difference. Especially with the planning commission being appointed by the mayor.

Alexis H

The whole “Get out and vote!” idea does not help our community. Uninformed citizens voting is not what we should strive for. The message should be “Get informed.” Then voting naturally follows.

Steven C

I’m also disappointed in seeing voter turnout, Numerous times I seen posts about meet the candidates and the couple I went to had a terrible turnout. People saying they’d like to be informed and learn about candidates before voting had many opportunities to meet each one multiple times. Maybe even more advertising for meet the candidates?

Colton S

I did vote, but I literally felt like I was guessing the whole thing. I see people mentioning some opportunities to meet the candidates but I never once saw anything about that, and the pamphlet that was sent out was practically useless. My husband and I searched the internet for more info and barely found anything. I would appreciate more candidate info online

Carol M

Conclusion

With the growth of Eagle Mountain, a lot of people just felt that they were to new to the city to vote and did not have the information needed. Another issue is that with mail-in voting only, when a resident moves into Eagle Mountain they don’t know how to get a ballot, or how to vote in person. There were several residents that fell into this category that did not vote because they did not register quick enough or know how or where to do so.

For the voter that is looking for more information, there are a couple of resources I would like to point out.

First, you can always go to vote.utah.gov. There you can enter your voting information and that site will give you bios of the candidates, as well as pro/con arguments for any ballot initiatives or amendments to state/county/city policies.

Second, you can go to the Utah County voters website to get more information as well. You can visit this site by going to: https://www.utahcounty.gov/dept/clerkaud/elections/Index.html

Third, you can go visit the city website for more details. The City Recorder puts voting information on their voting section of we website. https://eaglemountaincity.com/elections-voting/

Finally, you can always visit cedarvalleysentinel.com for voting information. For the last several elections I have sent out questionnaires to the candidates. During this last election cycle all but one of the candidates answered the questionnaire. I have also posted information on previous voting history of elected officials, created a contribution database, and try to inform residents prior to the election. The best way to stay up on what is going on with Cedar Valley Sentinel (formerly i84005) is to subscribe to our newsletter, or to like our Facebook Page.

Voter Turn Out History in Eagle Mountain

Election	Type	Total Voters	Total Votes	Turnout %
2021 General	Municipal	20,241	5,039	24.90%
2021 Primary	Municipal	20,228	3,041	15.03%
2019 General	Municipal	14,145	7,054	20.61%
2019 Primary	Municipal	11,460	2,288	19.97%
2017 Primary	Municipal	11,460	2,288	19.97%
2017 General	Municipal	10,721	3,082	28.75%
2016 General	County/State/Federal	12,280	9,200	74.91%
2015 General	Municipal	1,040	1,618	16.12%
2014 Primary	County/State/Federal	9,618	318	3.30%
2014 General	County/State/Federal	9,968	3,866	38.78%
2013 Primary	Municipal	9,885	1,854	18.76%
2013 General	Municipal	10,079	3,036	30.12%
2012 General	County/State/Federal	8,132	6,853	84.27%
2011 Primary	Municipal	8,910	733	8.00%
2011 General	Municipal	9,030	1,486	16.00%
2010 Primary	County/State/Federal	7,736	898	11.60%
2010 General	County/State/Federal	7,142	3,319	46.47%
2009 General	Municipal	7,578	1,834	22.00%
2008 Primary	County/State/Federal	4,677	1,455	31.11%
2008 General	County/State/Federal	6,747	4,814	71.35%
2007 Primary	Municipal	5,5553	1,211	22.00%
2007 General	Municipal	5,030	2,467	49.00%
2006 Primary	County/State/Federal	4,059	760	18.72%
2006 General	County/State/Federal	4,335	1,878	43.32%
2005 Primary	Municipal	4,143	726	18.00%
2005 General	Municipal	4,341	1,396	32.00%
2003 Primary	Municipal	2,884	802	29.00%
2003 General	Municipal	2,436	1,247	52.00%
2001 Primary	Municipal	1,694	744	44.00%
2001 General	Municipal	1,958	1,071	55.00%
1999 General	Municipal	608	425	70.00%
1997 General	Municipal	111	106	95.00%

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