Insight: Primary Reasons to Show Up

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Jackie Mundt
Pratt County farmer and rancher

The world belongs those who show up.
That simple idea has become one of the cardinal rules in my life. What I love about this rule is it doesn’t hinge on predisposed talent or having the right connections. The only way to unlock the potential of this rule is to just keep showing up.
Showing up has been on my mind as I contemplate the upcoming primary.
Over the years, I have heard many people dismiss primaries as unimportant. They may say their vote doesn’t matter or claim they will vote when the “real” election happens.
That type of thinking is flawed because often the primary election is the real race. If you live in an area that is largely affiliated with one party, the primary likely determines the front runner or the only name that will be on the ballot in the general election. In our state, there are dozens of state and local races where only one party has candidates who have filed for election. This is your chance to show up for your community.
If you hesitate to vote because you aren’t sure who to vote for, I invite you to visit KFB.org to see a list of the candidates endorsed by Kansas Farm Bureau’s Voters Organized To Elect Farm Bureau Friends. These candidates have been recommended by our local members through a grassroots process. KFB’s political action committee takes local feedback and, in cases of incumbents’, voting histories into consideration to make endorsements for candidates who understand, value and support agriculture in our state.
If that is not enough of a reason to show up for the primary, here an important question: Do you have an opinion on abortion? This is such a heated and prominent issue on the national stage that I am guessing most people do.
This primary election is your opportunity to share that opinion without having to put a sign in your yard and jeopardize any relationships. The primary will feature a proposed constitutional amendment that would affirm there is no Kansas constitutional right to abortion, and the right to pass laws to regulate abortion. If the amendment fails, the constitution would not change leaving in place the recently recognized right to abortion.
I am not advocating for or against the amendment. However, I am advocating for you to show up and cast a ballot for your beliefs and values.
If I haven’t convinced you in any of my previous points, let me try one more. You probably already knew an election was coming from the seemingly endless advertisements on social media, TV, streaming services and in your mailbox. These advertisements are overly sensational, meant to vilify one candidate while making a hero out of another, and often make claims that are irrelevant to the position in question.
The reason we are bombarded with these advertisement is because organizations, many outside the state, are spending millions of dollars to sway your vote. All that money is spent in hope that an unengaged voter will show up to the poll and pick someone based on the faint memory they have of an advertisement.
If you don’t want our elections to be determined by the highest bidder, show up as an informed voter for the primary.
Politics can be overwhelming and it is easy to feel like your vote doesn’t matter, but it does. The world and elections belong to those who show up and I hope you will on Aug. 2.
“Insight” is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.

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