New committee chair hopes the group can grow voter turnout in the township while also reaching Independents
Left, right or in the middle, the word politics is on the mind of many. Harrison Township is no exception.
While national political conversation seems to be as abundant in the public sphere as fruit in a grocery store, the June 5 local and state primary voter turnout was relatively low.
According to the Board of Elections, 945 votes were cast in Harrison Township on that early Tuesday in June.
While the numbers were close, Democrats outnumbered the Republican vote 499–446.
Democrats in the township have been relatively quiet in the past few years, according to Blair Hill, the new chair of the Harrison Township Democratic Committee.
She speculates the reason for this is two-fold: Harrison Township Republicans and Independents generally outnumber the Democrats and, simply, people just don’t know who the candidates are.
“I am fairly new to all of this and learning as I go,” Hill said, noting she was appointed chair of the committee in early June.
Wasting no time, Hill is considering the group’s role in the political makeup of the town.
“There is a Republican and Democratic committee on the county level; those committees are comprised of representatives from each town and within each voting district,” she said, noting the Harrison Township Democrat Committee’s 18 seats are now filled for the first time.
“These individuals are in place to represent constituents’ concerns to local government and try and get the vote out at election time,” she added.
Kelly Redkoles and Andrea Reahm are the Democratic liaisons between the group and the Harrison Township Committee.
“We want to bring a new life into the [Democratic] committee,” she said, noting the Republican group in Harrison has been consistently “well-rounded” while the Democrats, until recently, had not held a meeting in close to five years.
Hill stated that while her interest in politics is not new and she has felt for a long time that voting for more than just the president is key to promoting change, the last presidential election was a “wake-up call” for her and sought a more active role in politics.
While she feels red and blue can be abstract at the local level and voters should focus on the candidates as individuals, the political groups do share a couple things in common: promoting voter turnout and getting people engaged in the political process.
“Harrison Township polls are dismal, we want to reach out to Democrats and Independent voters and get them engaged in the political process,” Hill said.
She mentioned the political process is more than just voting but is about spreading education detailing what local government does and how it affects residents.
Now fully seated, the committee is preparing to roll out canvassing campaigns and is mulling ideas on how to increase the turnout at polls for future elections.
Concerned mostly about engagement, the committee still plays a role in the larger picture of politics and has decided on candidates to endorse for higher political seats and other positions.
Hill urges those who want to be more active in the politics or know more about the Harrison Township Democratic Committee to email [email protected].
