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As of Wednesday evening at 5 p.m., less than 1,000 total registered voters had cast a ballot in the upcoming municipal elections in Troup County.

We’re obviously still hoping for a large turnout on Election Day, which is Tuesday, but we’d be lying if we didn’t say we’re disappointed in the turnout thus far.

We’re not sure how to cure voter apathy.

We know people are busy, but this is important.

After previous elections, we’ve had people tell us that they had no idea an election was going on. There are campaign signs just about everywhere you go in LaGrange, West Point and Hogansville right now. You almost have to close your eyes while driving to miss them, and we don’t recommend doing that.

Coverage has been everywhere.

The LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce hosted election forums, which the LaGrange Daily News streamed on its Facebook page. The LDN also wrote a story on each forum. Those aren’t the only election stories we’ve written either.

For some reason, people get more involved when the presidential race is on the ballot.

We know the national media spends a lot of time on those races, and the position of president is obviously important. But in the future, when you have a pothole in the middle of your street, we encourage you to call the White House about getting it fixed to see how it goes.

Or when you have questions about a development being considered down the road.

Or when you’re not happy about a higher light bill.

Try calling the president to get one of those problems fixed and let us know how that goes.

The city council members and mayor (in West Point) elected Tuesday will make decisions every day that impact your daily life. They will choose how to use your tax dollars to make a better community for you, your family and your children.

They are the ones who will vote on how to allocate funding, what projects to support, and they’ll be the ones as the face of our community to recruit new businesses and shape your city for the future.

LaGrange will have to consider raising utility rates next year, in part, due to needing to continue to fund law enforcement raises. The LaGrange council recently discussed potentially limiting the number of liquor stores in the city. Those are just examples of the important decisions these elected officials debate every day.

West Point is trying to figure out how it’ll use the Coca-Cola building right off the interstate and how it might build a new pool for the community to use.

And Hogansville is still dealing with complaints about utility rates and continues to work to develop and promote its downtown.

Yet, the majority of registered voters will sit at home this election cycle. They’ll say that three weeks of early voting, plus 12 hours on election day, just isn’t enough time to vote. Or they’ll moan that their vote doesn’t count.

It’s sad really.

Meanwhile, next year when we vote for president, there will probably be lines at voting precincts, despite the fact neither Biden, Trump, Ron Desantis, Nikki Haley or anyone else in the running could probably point to Troup County on a map or tell you one thing about our community.