In Wednesday’s edition of The News, reporters Steve Schulwitz and Crystal Nelson brought us a breakdown of the local ballot questions before voters on Aug. 6.

Presque Isle County voters will decide the fate of a controversial wind turbine ordinance. Alpena County voters will decide whether to continue paying 0.25 mills of property tax for the county library.

In Alpena County’s Green Township, voters will decide two property tax proposals, one for emergency medical response services and another for road improvements. In Presque Isle County’s Metz Township, voters will decide a roads millage.

We won’t tell you how to vote on any of those questions.

But we do encourage you to vote.

Turnout for such off-year elections, when there is no candidate on the ballot, has typically been abysmal.

That hurts all of us.

Low voter turnout mean that a sliver of our population gets to decide how much the rest of us pay in taxes, which programs the rest of enjoy or lose, etc.

And that should rankle all our feathers.

So take a few minutes on Aug. 6 and head to your polling place to cast a ballot.

Chances are, the line won’t be long — though we hope it will be.

(THE ALPENA NEWS)