I went to Fishers City Hall Friday to vote early.  There were no voters there other than myself.

One of the poll workers looked at me and asked, “Is there any way we can get more young people to come out and vote?”  I had no answer then and I have no answer now.

In my estimation, past data are clear, few people of any voting age bother to show up and vote in our municipal election here in Fishers.

Yes, it’s true we have no mayor’s race and many city council districts have unopposed candidates.  However, everyone voting in the city of Fishers can vote in the at-large City Council election.  There are four candidates, 3 incumbent Republicans and one challenger, a Democrat.

I received a very pointed comment when I posted Fred Swift’s commentary on the upcoming election, which was posted on the front page of Sunday’s Hamilton County Reporter  (the Reporter has a news-gathering partnership with me and Fred Swift’s commentary was posted on my blog as part of that partnership).  Mr. Swift was looking at local elections throughout Hamilton County.

The person posting the comment argues that election ballots should have an option equating to “none of the above” which would be a sort of protest message that none of the candidates are acceptable to an individual voter.  This proposal has been around a long time.

There was a time, as a Political Science college student in the 1970s, when I thought that idea had some merit.  Perhaps delivering such a message to the political parties might nudge them into providing better candidates and better choices for the voting public.

In the ensuing years, I have changed my mind.  No, I am not saying voters always have good choices.  For the record, in the Fishers city election this year, we have some high quality candidates and perhaps a few that are not of such high quality.

But I no longer believe the “none of the above” ballot option would end up doing much good or changing anything for the better.  It may make some voters feel better, but it would not likely make any positive changes to the election system.

In some cases, elections present imperfect choices.  But to live in a democracy means, in my view, you have some basic civic responsibilities.  I think voting is one of them, even if you are dissatisfied with the choices.

But, again, that’s just my opinion and others are entitled to their own.

So, in that spirit, if you are a registered voter and live within the city limits of Fishers, I would urge you to educate yourselves about the candidates and vote.  The actions of your city government impact your life, no matter what age you may be.  I recorded podcasts with all the candidates and you find links to them at this link.

FYI, LarryInFishers.com plans to be in Noblesville to report on the election results.  Watch this space, as well as my Twitter account (@LarryInFishers) for the latest election returns Tuesday night.

Now, one more thing.

I had the distinct pleasure of walking around the Hamilton East Library in Fishers Saturday and talked with most of the local authors on hand for the Local Author Fair.  I was amazed at the variety of work being put on display.

One man wrote a book about a gambling, bank robbing relative that did most of his criminal work during the Great Depression, and was a good friend of gangster Pretty Boy Floyd.  Another researched his Great Great Grandfather who fought in the Civil War, then returned to Indiana.

Then there were plenty of fiction writers, from romance novelists to one writer that concentrates on stories of biker gangs.

They were all fascinating people and I had the chance to record brief discussions with over 20 of them.  You can access the podcast featuring all those interviews at this link.