Vote, Inkster. It's now or never.

INKSTER, Mich. Here is a number every Inkster resident should know: 3,000.

That is roughly how many of us show up to vote in many Inkster elections. It is a small number for a city with about 17,000 registered voters. It means that, election after election, more than four out of five registered voters in Inkster stay home.

And the people we send to Lansing notice.

Votes are how a city gets heard

Inkster does not elect a state representative on its own. We share a state House district, District 26, with Garden City and parts of Westland and Romulus, according to the office of state Rep. Dylan Wegela, who represents it. Our neighbors in that district are larger, and their voters turn out in bigger numbers.

Every elected official has limited time, staff and political capital. They spend it where the votes are. When a few thousand people vote in Inkster and many more vote in the cities around us, the math is not hard to read. Our neighbors get the visits, the town halls and the follow-up calls. Inkster gets what is left.

That is not a complaint about any one person. It is how politics works everywhere. Officials pay closest attention to the communities that decide whether they keep their jobs, and researchers have measured it.

What it costs us when we stay home

Being at the bottom of the list is not just a feeling. It shows up in the things we ask for year after year:

• Roads that need more than patching.
• Water and sewer systems that need real investment, not emergency repairs.
• Youth programs, senior services and recreation that keep a community healthy.
• State grants and budget dollars that other cities seem to win more often.

Much of the money for those things moves through Lansing. Our state lawmakers help decide which projects get funded, which grant applications get a phone call of support and which cities get a seat at the table. A city that votes in large numbers is hard to ignore. A city that does not vote is easy to overlook.

How the money actually moves

Not every dollar from Lansing depends on how many of us vote. It helps to know the difference.

Some money comes by formula. Under the Michigan Constitution, every city receives a share of state sales tax based on its population. In the 2024 budget year, that worked out to about $110 per resident, according to the Michigan Department of Treasury. State road money is also distributed largely by formula. Turnout does not change those checks.

Other money is decided by lawmakers. Every year, legislators add projects for their own districts directly into the state budget. These are often called earmarks or "enhancement grants." In the 2024-25 budget alone, lawmakers approved more than $400 million for 229 local projects, according to the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency, as reported by Bridge Michigan. That list included $2.5 million for sidewalk improvements in Garden City, a city in our own state House district.

That second pot is where turnout matters most. There is no formula. Lawmakers choose which projects to champion, and under recent reforms they must now put their names on the projects they request. Cities that vote in big numbers are the ones lawmakers most want to be seen helping.

The research backs this up. A study published in the American Journal of Political Science found that members of Congress steer federal money toward the areas within their districts that vote at higher rates, and that low-turnout areas lose out. Another study, published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, looked at what happened after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the polls to Black voters in the South. As Black communities began voting, state aid shifted toward counties with larger Black populations. When turnout rose, the money followed.

The lesson for Inkster is simple. Our votes are not only how we choose leaders. They are how we get counted when the money is divided.

Our goal: 10,000 Inkster votes, every election

We are setting a goal for this city, and we hope you will make it yours: at least 10,000 Inkster votes in every election. Not just in presidential years. Every primary, every midterm, every local race.

Lifelong Inkster resident Dr. Leon Crawford has a name for it: #Vote10000+. Use it, share it and hold each other to it.

Ten thousand votes would change how Inkster is seen. It would tell every candidate who wants to represent this district that Inkster decides elections. It would put our roads, our water, our programs and our families near the top of the list instead of the bottom.

It does not matter who you vote for

This is not about a party or a candidate. Vote for whoever you believe in. Vote for the front-runner or the long shot. Leave a race blank if you do not know enough about it.

Just vote.

What matters is that the total number of ballots cast in Inkster goes up. Turnout is a message all by itself, and it is one every officeholder reads.

How to get there

Ten thousand is within reach. It means bringing about 7,000 more of our neighbors into the habit of voting. Here is how each of us can help:

• Vote, every time. Primaries and local elections count as much as the big ones.
• Bring one person. A spouse, a neighbor, a grandchild who just turned 18. If every voter brought one more, we would nearly double.
• Use early voting or an absentee ballot. No lines, no rush, and you can vote on a weekend.
• Check your registration. Moved recently? Make sure your address is current at the Michigan Voter Information Center.
• Help someone get there. Offer a ride. Help an elder request an absentee ballot.

Inkster has done this before

This city has a proud history of showing up. Inkster sent its own to Lansing generations ago, when Hiram A. McNeeley served a decade in the Michigan House. Families here organized for better housing and fairer treatment when doing so was not easy.

We can do it again, and it starts right now.

Inkster, this is our moment: Nov. 3

The next chance to show Lansing that Inkster matters is this election, Tuesday, Nov. 3, and early voting is already open at City Hall.

So we are asking every Inkster resident who can vote to come out in numbers. Bring your family. Bring your neighbors. Bring your church, your block club, your coworkers and your friends. Vote early this weekend or line up on Election Day. Let's make this the election when the turnout numbers from Inkster make everyone in Lansing look twice.

When the results come in, every candidate, every party and every officeholder in this district will see how many of us voted. Let them see a city that showed up.

Three thousand votes gets Inkster overlooked. Ten thousand gets Inkster heard.

On Nov. 3, let's show them that Inkster matters. See you at the polls. #Vote10000+

Contributor: Dr. Leon Crawford, a lifelong Inkster resident, contributed to this article.

Coming soon: Dr. Leon Crawford is organizing a #Vote10000+ rally in Inkster. Details will be announced in the coming days, and Inkster Now! will share them as soon as they are available.

Sources: Office of state Rep. Dylan Wegela (District 26); Michigan Department of Treasury, constitutional revenue sharing; House Fiscal Agency via Bridge Michigan, June 27, 2024; Paul S. Martin, "Voting's Rewards," American Journal of Political Science, 2003; Elizabeth U. Cascio and Ebonya L. Washington, "Valuing the Vote," Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2014.