That ballot that came in the mail recently is a symbol of a privilege and a responsibility. While presidential and congressional elections dominate social media and news headlines during other years, this year’s municipal election is just as important for everyone’s voice to be heard. In fact, the outcomes of municipal elections actually affect our lives in many ways.

This year, school board members are being elected to head up the upcoming new school districts in Utah County. This is a huge responsibility. Public schools do much more than teach reading, writing and arithmetic. They are safe havens for many children and places where important life lessons are learned. Having wise school board members is central to ensuring that all children are given the best education possible in safe and loving atmospheres.

If you’ve ever sat in on a city council meeting, you know that many important decisions are made that affect everyone. Zoning issues, tax increases, utility rates, budgets, compensation for first responders and basically how to spend taxpayers’ money are all decided in those meetings.

For example, a current issue in many Utah communities right now is housing and how much is too much – or too little – high-density housing. Yes, these issues affect all of us greatly. Voting for the right city council members and mayors is significant.

Local elections offer an opportunity for people who may not feel as if their voices are usually heard to speak out. This is a chance to be empowered and to help to form the communities in which we live. There is power in voting, and yes, every vote is counted, and every vote counts. Many decisions in local elections are decided by just a few votes over the competition.

While I’m at it, I’m going to put a plug in for local newspapers, whether they are read online or in paper form. All of these reasons for voting locally are also reasons why local news should be supported. As a local reporter for a couple of decades, I wrote about various important issues that citizens said they had heard nothing about until they read the articles.

These issues, such as property tax increases, were decided by the very people who were elected by citizens. Yes, local news and local elections are important to democracies because the citizens need to know what is going on and to have a say in what is going on.

Here in Utah, mail-in ballots must be received by the clerk’s office on or before 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 4. Ballots received after Nov. 4 will not be counted. You can also drop your ballot off at a drop box location before 8 p.m. on Election Day, according to vote.Utah.gov. Utah County drop box locations can be found at vote.utahcounty.gov/voting-locations.