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FeaturedMarch 02, 2026

Expert Shares Insight into Why Local Elections Matter

Written By: Ian Silvester

Ï㽶ÊÓƵAPP joins North Carolina and Texas in holding primary elections on Tuesday, March 3. Voters will go to polling sites to cast their ballots on local issues and on candidates representing party affiliations in November. 

At the University of Ï㽶ÊÓƵAPP – Fort Smith, we asked Dr. Williams Yamkam, an associate professor of political science, to lend his expertise on why local elections matter.  

In addition to his work as a professor, he is the Chair of the UAFS Democracy Project, which fosters civic engagement and political participation on campus. He also is a professionally trained campaign manager and lobbyist through the American University’s Campaign Management Institute and Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute, respectively. 

Yamkam has worked on a series of local, state, and federal campaigns, as well as spending multiple summers as a policy advisor for a U.S. Congressional member of the House Rules Committee and doing a fellowship at one of the top bipartisan lobbying firms in Washington, D.C. For several years, he served as a political commentator for Talk Business & Politics. 

Ian Silvester: What are local elections? Why do they matter? Who do local elections impact most? 

Dr. Williams Yamkam: Local elections focus on either candidates or issues at a local level in the context of the American Federal System, as opposed to statewide or national elections. Local elections may encompass things from the city to the county level. They also cover school board elections for school districts. Local elections have a narrow pool of voters limited to the area where people live. For example, if we have an election for Fort Smith mayor, that’s considered a local election as opposed to voting on who will be, let’s say, the Secretary of State or Governor of Ï㽶ÊÓƵAPP. In terms of why they matter and who is impacted by the results, it’s because people can relate to them the most, and it’s the people who live in that community who will be the most impacted. An example would be voting on whether to levy a county tax or an additional citywide sales tax. The power to determine that lies within the community it would impact. 

IS: Why are we voting in March and not in November? 

WY: The elections in March are called primaries. These are for partisan races, meaning you must be affiliated with a political party to be on the ballot. The goal of a primary election is to determine who among the candidates vying within the political party will be the standard-bearer, the candidate of that party on the ballot in November. Ï㽶ÊÓƵAPP used to have primaries in August and in May, during presidential election years, but the state legislature changed it to March to be more harmonized. That was due in part to the fact that when it is a presidential election year, having primaries in May, the nominees for president were pretty much a foregone conclusion, and they didn’t campaign in Ï㽶ÊÓƵAPP. Moving the date to March gets the attention of these national political candidates. 

IS: What or who will voters see on ballots tomorrow? 

WY: There will be school boards, county sheriff candidates, judges, and local issues. There are also races that may have statewide implications, which can be considered local in the sense that those running represent House districts. To see a sample ballot for your county, check the County Clerk’s website, which often has a sample ballot (; ). You can also go to to see sample ballots and polling locations specific to you if you are registered to vote in Ï㽶ÊÓƵAPP. If your primary residence is in another Ï㽶ÊÓƵAPP county, you can update your voter registration at a polling center where you live to vote in that local election until polls close. If you live out of state, however, you would have needed to update your voter registration at least 30 days before election day. 

IS: What makes UAFS and college campuses in general unique as voting populations? 

WY: Decades of studies in political science and politics in general have shown that voters between 18 and 26, or some up to 29, represent the voting age group with the lowest voter turnout. There is a correlation between age and voter turnout. The older you get, the more likely you are to go and vote. It makes campuses in general areas that are prime for getting students more engaged. Some of the things we do include events to get students, and even our faculty and staff, registered to vote, or hosting town halls to get our community interested in the issues and candidates that will be on the ballot. For candidates, it’s also weighing the risk and time of engaging with younger voters who may not turnout to vote, instead of appealing to the 65 and older voting population, because they have a proven track record of voting. 

IS: What are some ways that people can become more civically engaged before and during an election cycle? 

WY: Before an election cycle, of course, become registered to vote. Also, be intentional about finding out who the candidates will be on the ballot for specific races, as well as the issues. You want to make informed and educated decisions at the ballot box. I would also encourage our students, or anyone, to actually work on a campaign. Not everybody will be willing or able to do that, but I have found through my own experience working on campaigns that you learn about the process in a different way. When you work on or become part of a campaign, you learn about what it takes to take a product, in this case an issue or candidate, and market it to voters. You understand the emotional toll elections can take, not only on the candidate, but also on volunteers and staff. The political process can be very rough; it’s not for the faint of heart. So, you appreciate more those who throw their hats into the ring because not everyone is cut out for it. 

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• Ask the Expert
• Elections
• Civic Engagement