It’s a presidential election year.
That usually means higher voter turnout, which stems from more national interest. Turnout nationally for the 2020 general election soared to levels not seen in decades, according to the Pew Research Center, fueled by a divisive campaign between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Locally, all three Northern Kentucky counties saw 20% higher voter turnout in 2020 than the year before.
While passion for the race for the White House can be seen in signs in front yards across the country, it’s local races that have more impact on voters’ everyday lives.
Because Northern Kentucky is made up of so many small cities, soon to be former Bellevue City Councilman Ryan Salzman said it can probably be more difficult for voters to prepare adequately for elections that consist of a lot of races.
“Anytime you have small towns, they are going to get less coverage,” he said. “In Cincinnati they have this huge budget, and it’s easy to see why that’s important. But why does Bellevue’s much smaller budget matter?”
Just how many cities?
In our three county area – Boone, Kenton and Campbell – there are 38. Only three of those are in Boone County, so that leaves 35 cities between just Kenton and Campbell counties. Between the three counties, there are also 13 public school districts.
That means there are a LOT of people running. How many? Two hundred and twenty two.
Those 222 are competing in 30 races across the three counties. That’s 30 different budgets or school boards to consider. Which means the people voting have much more homework to do than people in, say, Cincinnati, before they vote.
Which impacts, Salzman said, how much voters care about each individual race.
“We are structurally in a place where it’s hard for people to be able to get that information and to care region-wide,” he said.
How Northern Kentucky may complicate things
“The race that we hear the most about is of course the president and sometimes our senators,” said Shauna Reilly, a political science professor at Northern Kentucky University. “But the ones that affect us the most are the ones that get the least amount of coverage – or the least amount of attention.”
For example, your home’s property tax rates, or how quickly potholes get filled on Pike Street or U.S. 27 or whether your town gets a medical cannabis dispensary. That’s all up to local governments, not the president.
Those local races are usually at the bottom of the ballot, Reilly said, which makes it more likely that people won’t get that far.
“When we think about who sets our housing taxes or who makes sure our children are educated or who sets policies that affect us on a daily basis or even who is in charge of putting extra stoplights in,” Reilly said, “those are the people that most people can’t even name.”
So, yes, it’s important to vote for the president. But the votes you cast on local races will directly affect the way you live your life.
“Every day we encounter government or some sort of policy that influences our day without even knowing it,” Reilly said.
Bellevue City Councilman Ryan Salzman, whose term is over at the end of this year and who is not running for re-election, agreed. “Your police, your fire, your trash, your roads,” he said, “these are the things that, when they don’t work, people get very upset about.”
Here are races you should pay attention to if you care about …
School funding
Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 2 will be on the ballot for all Kentucky residents this fall. If voters approve it, the amendment would allow for laws to provide state funding for non-public schools, like private or charter schools.
Advocates say the amendment would give parents more choice in where their children are educated; opponents say it could take money from existing public schools.
Go to page 6 to learn more about Amendment 2
Income tax
Kentucky’s state income tax is currently 4%. Legislators in the state’s House of Representatives and Senate are responsible for setting that rate, and many are running on a platform that includes lowering it to zero.
So the amount of state income tax that comes out of your paychecks or that you have to pay in 2026 may change depending on whom you vote for at the state level this November.
Property tax
City and county leaders set your property taxes.
Twenty-three cities in Northern Kentucky are voting for city council members and commissioners, who have a part in deciding whether your mortgage payments go up or down due to your property tax rate.
“A lot of folks just aren’t as aware or paying attention to those smaller races,” Reilly said. “And then when things happen they are surprised. Like, ‘Oh our tax rate went up.’ And it’s because of the people you didn’t vote for.”
Your school district
Five districts have contested races for their school boards this year: Boone County School Board divisions 1 and 2, Beechwood’s school board and Covington’s school board.
Their members do things like set goals and standards for the performance of their schools and superintendents; measure how the schools are making progress against those goals; decide how to use resources, and more.
“A lot of folks are looking at school board elections” this year, Reilly said. “What is being taught in schools. There are a lot of folks with opinions about who should be elected.”
Medical cannabis
Are you adamant that medical marijuana should be legally sold in your city?
If you live in one of the handful of cities whose councils or commissions decided to let residents vote on whether medical cannabis facilities should be allowed within city limits, like Alexandria, Bellevue or Florence, you’ll get to decide for yourself in the voting booth.
If you live in cities like Walton, Union or Taylor Mill, your city council decided to ban medical cannabis outright instead of letting voters decide. If those legislators are up for re-election, you can use that info to help guide your decision on their candidacies.
Either way, educate yourself before you go to the polls.
“I know someone who said, ‘I voted for so-and-so because he’s so-and-so’s son,’ but actually he’s not,” Reilly said. “Not doing your homework means you might vote for someone you don’t know anything about.”
Roads and bridges
Did a pothole on a city road give you a flat? Your city government is the one that pays to fix potholes and decides whether to reimburse you for that flat.
If you’re passionate about cyclist access on the Fourth Street Bridge, for example, taking those opinions to your local city council isn’t going to do much, because the state owns that bridge and is responsible for all its repairs and maintenance.
Either way, the president isn’t responsible for making the decisions that keep your roads pothole free or create more cyclist friendly infrastructure – that’s either your city or state officials.
“To use Bellevue as an example,” Salzman said, “Bellevue does a half million dollars of road repair every year. We only get $100,000 from the state for that every year for our road funding. So 80% of that is coming from local taxes.”
If you have a negligent mayor, Salzman said, he or she won’t go after those federal funds, and your roads aren’t going to get repaired. “But if you have an active mayor,” he continued, “those things will be tended to.”
Housing
Do you own a house or apartment that you use as a short-term rental? The city you live in can determine whether you’re allowed to do so or how much you have to pay for a license to operate your rental business.
Covington, for example, approved new short-term rental regulations in 2023 after a surge in the availability of such housing.
Officials in cities across Northern Kentucky began to express worry that leaving them unregulated could pose a safety risk, and leaving them unmonitored could translate into an oversaturated market – and remove valuable housing options for permanent residents. Studies also show that the presence of short-term rentals can drive up rent prices.
Even if you don’t own a short-term rental, then, their existence could affect how much you pay in rent or eventually affect your home’s value.
The people who make these decisions are city council members and commissioners.
Who is allowed to vote
Even who is allowed to vote in your state, which may seem like a decision made by the federal government, can come down to the decisions voters make about who represents them at the state level.
This year, voters will be asked to decide on Kentucky Constitutional Amendment 1, which says that only United States citizens can vote in elections in the state – including elections for school trustees and local school districts. (Federal law already forbids noncitizens from voting in federal elections.)
So, while the debate over who should be the next president of the United States may be top of mind for many voters heading to the polls this fall, the races that will really affect Northern Kentuckians are much closer to home.
What can you do to learn more about your local races?
“This is an opportunity to influence your community,” Reilly said about paying more attention to local races when casting your vote. “Think about how you want that to look, and that should influence who you vote for.”
Before going to the voting booth, she suggested, ask yourself what’s important to you. “Is it making sure your children are safe in schools or that they are learning X, Y and Z or not learning X, Y and Z?” she said.
Search online. If it’s hard to find information on candidates because they don’t have a website or even a Facebook page, Reilly said, do you want to vote for them?
“Sometimes,” Reilly said, “I like to read the local newspaper to find information about these candidates.”
You’d be surprised what you can find by spending a bit of time searching around the internet, Reilly said.
“You have to trust your sources and figure out what it means and what you want to support,” she said.
Salzman suggested taking a look at the larger issues affecting your community. Those can be found by looking at resources like the National League of Cities. Then, once you know which questions to ask, Salzman suggested reaching out to former elected officials. Especially those who have been out of office for a few years.
“Even after you’re off council, you’re still paying very close attention to what’s going on,” he said. Buy them a cup of coffee, he said, and pick their brain. It may seem intimidating, but, he said, former officials love it when people approach them about this stuff.
“It’s something in your DNA when you’re a former elected official,” he said. “You love it.”
One more suggestion from Reilly:
“It’s OK to take a cheat sheet into the voting booth,” she said. “You can make a list and write it down and take it in with you. That’s something people think that they have to memorize the names, but you can take notes in about who you want to vote for.”
