Every election, there will be a reporter — at Ideastream it's often me — bouncing from polling place to polling place to talk to voters. It's a tough assignment sometimes, not because people don’t want to talk, but because they just aren't there.

In Cleveland’s primary election two months ago, 7% of registered voters showed up to vote. In a primary election where the city was deciding mayoral finalists and determining its council seats for newly redrawn wards, an overwhelming majority of voters decided it wasn’t important enough to show up or even drop a ballot in the mail.

Ok, maybe it’s because that was a primary election. Perhaps people show up for the general. Or, perhaps not.

In 2021, Cleveland had a mayoral election after Mayor Frank Jackson’s retirement, and the city was going to

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