It’s official: Former President Donald Trump is the presumptive Republican Party nominee for president, and President Joe Biden is the presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party. So now that that’s out of the way, “The Ballot Box” will help us all understand important aspects of elections that often fall through the cracks, beginning with the importance of down-ballot races.

In presidential election years — which consistently have the highest voter turnout, despite only hovering around 60% of eligible voters — about a third of voters don’t even fill out the whole ballot, according to the U.S. Vote Foundation.

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“[N]ot voting down-ballot for state and local representatives and not voting on local issues — school bonds and referenda and funding for police and social services — means wasting an opportunity to have the broadest impact possible,” the U.S. Vote Foundation wrote.

Most people have far fewer interactions with the federal government than they do with their local and state governments: Local transportation, schools, police, firefighters, sanitation services — the everyday services you use that are provided by the government — are mainly the work of local politicians.

Local and state politicians are also our future national politicians — most politicians are career politicians, aside from the rare Trump-esque political establishment outsider. So the next time you complain about horrible federal election candidates, remember that politicians gain traction for those races by building a base during down-ballot elections. 

If you don’t participate in those elections, local decisions are made by small groups of people who end up deciding not only local politics but future state and federal government officials as well. As the U.S. Vote Foundation points out, “National leaders usually don’t grow on trees.”

To illustrate the importance of down-ballot elections this year, there are a few examples close to home for USC students: the California Senate race and the Los Angeles City Council race. Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat, narrowly won the California Senate primary with Steve Garvey, a Republican, following in a close second — and by close, I mean he only received about 7,000 fewer votes than Schiff. 

In fact, in the special election Senate primary — which will fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat from Election Day until the start of a new term in January — Garvey actually beat Schiff by almost 300,000 votes. Why these two races had different outcomes despite having the same candidates running for the same position, I cannot say, but I can speculate it has something to do with people not paying attention to down-ballot races.

While many political analysts greatly doubt Garvey’s chances in the November election, one key factor may be overlooked. California is a deeply blue state, and Democrats who are unhappy with Biden — and Schiff, for that matter, who is not popular among progressives due to his support of Israel and refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza — may skip the ballot box this November under the assumption that California will go to Biden regardless of their vote.

However, Republican voters may show out in force to support Trump, considering the loyalty of his fan base and because of the rarity of a Republican Senate challenger in California; California has not elected a Republican senator since 1983.

Consequently, Garvey may have a fighting chance against Schiff — especially considering that he barely campaigned for the primary, instead benefiting from Schiff’s huge advertising campaign to make Garvey stand out as his main opponent and box out the other two Democratic candidates. Imagine what he can do now that he has gained enough traction to advance to the general election.

But even a Senate race is quite near the top of the ballot, so let’s look at the consequences of the L.A. City Council runoffs in November. Progressives Ysabel Jurado and Jillian Burgos will each face a more moderate challenger in their runoff elections, and those races could determine the balance of the City Council.

Jurado, a tenant rights attorney, is running against incumbent Councilmember Kevin de León, who faced scrutiny over leaked racist remarks he made while in office, refusing to resign over the scandal. Burgos will face former State Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, who also describes himself as progressive but notably supports Mayor Karen Bass’ push to hire more police officers, which Burgos does not.

For those of us who do not vote in L.A. or California, down-ballot races will continue throughout the primary season and in the general elections in November. Even if you already voted in your state’s presidential primary, you may have a down-ballot state primary before the general election. Your quality of life depends far more on the obscure names at the bottom of the ballot than the two at the top you wish you didn’t have to see again.

Kate McQuarrie is a senior writing about the 2024 election cycle as it unfolds. She is also an opinion editor at the Daily Trojan. Her column, “The Ballot Box,” runs every other Thursday.