When Governor Sam Brownback ran in the 2010 gubernatorial election and reelection in 2014, his position on taxes was clear: low taxes to facilitate economic growth. Brownback is fulfilling part of his economic promise to the state of Kansas. He came through on the first part. Since taking office in 2010, Brownback has eliminated income tax for almost 200,000 businesses and lowered the top income tax rate by 1.55 percent.

The second half of his promise, however, has not appeared. The original plan was to cut income taxes, which would prompt an influx of capital into the state and result in higher tax revenue and more jobs as the state economy grew. Today, rather than a wealth of new business and jobs, Kansas is facing a $344 million budget shortage for this year and a $600 million budget shortage for next year.

In order to address the budget shortfalls, Brownback did what was the most fiscally responsible in the short term. He cut government services. He drove to balance the spreadsheet. The most recent cut was $44.5 million from education for the current fiscal year.

There are two important things about this cut. First, even after reducing state spending on education by two percent for universities and one and a half percent for K-12, education funding remains almost $200 million more than last year. This is due in part to the Dec. 14 Supreme Court ruling decision, which ruled that Kansas had to spend more money on education due to discriminatory effects of budget cuts on low-income school districts. Second, the three main components of the Kansas budget are education, Medicare, and pensions. Therefore, any significant cuts significant to the budget must come from one of these three areas: your child’s classroom, your local policeman’s  retirement, or your grandma’s healthcare.

However, there is another solution. Kansas could reinstate the tax revenue with a new governor. Kansas came close in 2014. Paul Davis, Brownback’s moderate-Democrat opponent in the 2014 election, received 46.1 percent of the vote compared to Brownback’s 50 percent.  In addition, there is already an unofficial online petition circulating to recall Brownback with 34,390 signatures and a goal of 40,000.

An official recall campaign would require interested, concerned Kansas citizens to organize first and prove that there is grounds for a recall. In Kansas, a governor can be recalled for conviction of a felony, misconduct in office, incompetence, or failure to perform duties as proscribed. The whole recall process has three phases. First, the recall team must submit a list of 100 volunteers who will collect signatures, a statement of recall grounds, $100, and support signatures from 88,702 registered Kansas voters (the required number of signatures equals ten percent of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. 887,023 votes were cast in Fall 2014). In the second phase, concerned citizens must collect 354,808 signature (forty percent of total votes cast) in 90 days to trigger the recall election. The phase is a statewide recall election in which citizens vote whether to remove or replace the sitting governor.

Overall, Kansans have two choices. Either live with the implications of Brownback’s policies or use the political infrastructure developed during Davis’s 2014 campaign develop a grassroots movement to recall Brownback.

Note: This process will cost the around $64 million dollars.  Visit Mother Jones to get stats on Wisconsin’s experience during the Walker recall. Also, if Brownback survives it, he will go straight to Washington, but, hey, at least Kansas would get rid of him.

After the shooting and resulting outrage in Ferguson, Mo., it became widely known that the City Council and police force in the suburb were not representative of the city’s demographics. In a city with a population that is 67.4 percent African-American, five of its six city council members are Caucasian. Understandably, many felt that parts of the population were underrepresented and underserved.

While there are several factors that influence these statistics, a large part of the issue is who votes. Only 12 percent of eligible voters voted in the last Ferguson city-council election. I do not blame the people who did not vote; rather, I blame the system that is constructed to make people think their vote does not matter or does not affect them.

On a national level, only 41 percent of eligible voters participated in the last midterm election. Of those voters, only 23.1 percent of them were under the age of 30.

To many, the midterms seem less important than a presidential election. In truth, they have a much more direct effect on the people, since popular votes rather than electoral college votes are counted. Unfortunately, since voter turnout is so low, this means that smaller group of people are making decisions concerning important state issues like transportation, education and state tax laws.

The upcoming Nov. 4 election is especially important, as the political party divide in Congress could potentially shift. The Democrats may lose their majority in the Senate, as many seats in swing states are open, and both Congress and President Obama have low approval ratings. This means the midterm results will dictate Congress’ direction for the next term.

As someone who Scotch-taped her first “I voted” sticker to her bedroom mirror, it pains me to hear someone say that his or her vote does not matter, especially since “just one vote” often becomes the refrain of an entire group. The truth is, politicians care about votes. They are concerned with addressing the issues their constituents want addressed; so if our age group does not vote, important issues like birth control coverage or the minimum wage may be neglected. That should be enough motivation to get informed and vote in November.

The last day to register to vote for the Nov. 4 election is Oct. 8. Missouri residents can begin the registration process on the Missouri Secretary of State’s website: http://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/goVoteMissouri/register.aspx.

From there, you can register using a tablet or touchscreen device or by printing out a form and mailing it in to an election authority. Alternatively, you can register in person at a local election authority, which can also be found on the Secretary of State’s website, along with information on your designated polling place and instructions on how to vote absentee. The polls will be open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. on election day. While I know this is difficult for working people and students’ schedules, it is a priority for which we should make time.

We are incredibly lucky to have the right to vote in a democratic election. Suffrage is something people, particularly women and minorities, have fought for throughout history. If we don’t take advantage of that right, we are letting others make important decisions for us.

Missouri’s 6th district representative seat is up for grabs this November, and the wide variety of candidates ensures that it will be one to keep track of in the months to come. The incumbent Sam Graves faces the Democratic candidate who identifies as a moderate conservative and to Independent Russ Monchil, a self-identified Libertarian.

The Republican incumbent Sam Graves has served as the sixth district’s representative since 2000. With a bachelor’s in agronomy from the University of Missouri Columbia, he serves as chairman for the small business committee and as a member of the transport committee. Graves describes himself as fiscally conservative and voted yes to suspend the rules and pass the E-Label Act. Graves’ main concern is supporting small business, which is his reasoning for being opposed to the EPA act. Aside from small business, other key elements of Graves’ campaigns are US energy independence and strengthening the middle class. The campaign finance for his race this year has totaled to $716,174.

Democratic candidate Bill Hedge won the primary vote this August by a large margin. A current pastor, Hedge has focused much of his career on education and recently earned a Doctorate of Education at University of Missouri Columbia. Hedge outlined his top priorities as rebuilding the middle class, equality for women, effective and efficient government, and improving health care accessibility. He coined himself “the right man at the right time”, believing his open social policies mixed with fiscal responsibility may be enough to sway voters away from the incumbent this year.

Last is the Independent candidate, Russ Monchil. Like Democratic candidate Hedge, Monchil has no past experience in a political career, but instead works for the hotel industry at the Kansas City International Airport (MCI). However, he is an active committee member with the Libertarian party in his local township. While Monchil is socially liberal, his prime focus in that area is the legalization and taxation of marijuana, which gave him attention from state wide Political Action Committees (PAC) whose goal is for legalization. Other aspects of his platform are the full support of the second amendment and protecting the environment. Despite the obstacle of party affiliation, Monchil has managed to successfully earn a seat on the Mirabile School Board. Monchil believes in a candidacy for the people, funded by the people,rather than relying on what he calls “the large pockets of special interest money.”

While Graves may be leading in what appears to be a comfortable reelection. If wanting to participate in the Nov. 4 election, be sure to register by 5:00pm on the fourth Wednesday prior to the election.