GEORGE KENNEDY: If you're not up on the issues, please don't bother to vote

COLUMBIA — As you may have noticed, we have another election coming up Tuesday. The only prediction I’ll venture is that most of us won’t bother to vote. That’s OK with me. After years of bemoaning low turnout and urging participation, I’ve come to think that anyone who hasn’t taken the time to learn about the issues and candidates does the democracy a favor by staying home.

Missourian readers, of course, are a civic-minded bunch. For you, here’s my slightly off-center take on a quiet campaign that offers several difficult choices.

Let’s begin in the Fifth Ward, where Helen Anthony and Glen Ehrhardt have generated more heat and spent more money than the other races combined. Both, as far as I can tell, are smart, sincere and well qualified. Both are attorneys.

If you read the profiles and even the Q-and-A in Wednesday’s paper, you might have trouble distinguishing their positions. That’s why it’s important to look at who’s supporting them. The Columbia Daily Tribune reported Tuesday that Ms. Anthony’s campaign donations have come mainly from retirees and medical people. Mr. Ehrhardt is backed by the big developers and the Chamber of Commerce. His campaign treasurer filled the same role last year for Mayor Bob McDavid. Mr. Ehrhardt himself was deeply involved in the mean-spirited campaign that knocked Karl Skala off the council in that same election.