Turnout was low, but some WMass voters are expressing views in new ways (The Republican Editorials)

The following editorial is from the opinion page of The Republican newspaper in Springfield. It reflects views of the newspaper’s leadership and not necessarily those of MassLive. Readers are invited to share their opinions by emailing to letters@repub.com .

Because they don’t actually elect people, preliminary contests like those held this month have a hard time pulling in voters. That’s always been true, but the particularly low turnouts in Hampden County races deserve more than a shrug.

Local municipal governments need people to run for office. Competition keeps leaders on their toes. Candidates who entered the fray this year for positions on city councils and school committees knocked on a lot of doors, but struggled to get anyone to care. Turnout in Springfield was 3.4% of r