Ignorant and Apathetic or Do Not Know and Do Not Care

There is an old joke about a professor and an unruly student having an argument. At one point, after angry word play back and forth between the two, the professor says to the young man, “Sir, you are both ignorant and apathetic.” The students replies, “No, professor, it is just that I do not know and I do not care.”

Has that joke come true for voting in Knoxville?

Only 2% of registered voters or 4,000 turned out for the recent Knoxville City Elections.

Most voters probably did not even know there was an election. What was at stake? Four City Council seats?

Who won? Duane Grieve in District 2 with 382 votes or 92% of the total; Brenda Palmer in District 3 with 144 votes or 100% of the total; Nick Volpe, who currently holds the seat in District 4, with 412 votes or 63% verses Rick Staples with 232 votes or 32%; Daniel Brown in District 1 with 276 votes or 84% verses Pete Drew with 52 votes of 15%. Remember Daniel T. Brown, he served as mayor at one point. Only Brown and Volpe even faced a challenger.

Knox County Election Commission Administrator Cliff Rodgers said that he was not surprised with the results. “Four years ago we had five contested races and 7,985 voters.”

With fewer seats up for grab, it makes sense that fewer come out to vote.

What does your City Council do?

City Council, the legislative body for the City of Knoxville, meets every other Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Main Assembly Room of the City County Building, 400 Main Street, in downtown Knoxville. The business before the body is to administer the city charter and ordinances and to vote on how city tax dollars are spent.
 The  Agenda for the meeting is available on-line Friday before the meeting. The Meeting Minutes indicating the action taken by City Council on each item is available on-line Thursday following the meeting.

The Vice Mayor is selected by City Council from its membership for a two-year term. Council Member Nick Pavlis is currently Vice Mayor.

Composed of nine members, City Council has six representatives elected from districts and three elected 'at-large' representing the entire city. Each council member is elected to serve a four year term.