Local elections are all about you

It’s just over three weeks until Election Day, Nov. 8. Candidates are running for all 19 seats on the Nassau County Legislature, three Hempstead Town Council district positions, the townwide offices of supervisor, clerk and receiver of taxes, and judgeships in the county and state courts.

The Herald began its weekly Election 2011 coverage in the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 issue, and will continue it in each issue — and online at liherald.com — until Election Day, letting you know who’s running and reporting their answers to our questions on locally relevant matters. We will also endorse candidates who we think deserve your vote. On Election Night, we will post results.

It’s understandable that many voters already feel saturated with politics, with the media constantly bombarding us with the political drama of President Obama’s re-election campaign, the back-and-forth among the Republican candidates, the polls showing voter apathy and animosity toward Congress, and assorted alleged scandals. And that’s for an election 13 months from now.

So it’s easy to dismiss our local races as not as important as the national campaigns, or to feel so inundated with politics that we’re simply sick of the subject.

But that would be a mistake.

The decisions made by the people who sit in the 19 chairs in the County Legislature have significant effects on every Nassau resident and business. They consider and approve budgets that determine taxes and spending priorities, the size of the public work force and increases or reductions in services. These legislators pass or reject public contracts and the borrowing of billions of dollars. They render final decisions on issues ranging from police staffing to commercial development.

In preparing to vote, ask yourself if your legislator is working in your best interests. Where does he or she stand on issues that are important to you and your neighbors? How did he or she vote on putting up the bond to fund the development at the county Hub that was ultimately rejected by voters in August?