On Saturday, I took the 3-minute trip to my Plano polling location to vote in the election. The total time, from driving to casting my ballot, was no more than 20 minutes – barely a blink in my busy day.

And yet, during the time I was at the polls, I was the only one voting, and I didn’t see anyone arrive as I was leaving.

In what I believe was an important election that determines a new mayor and the fate of about $130 million in bond projects, I was surprised when the final voting numbers came in this week. A sad 6.5 percent of registered voters turned out at the polls.

Why are there more than 90 percent of registered voters, not to mention the many others who could have registered but didn’t, allowing a small sampling of people to determine the city and school board’s future?

If someone can answer this question, please let me know. It can’t be because there wasn’t enough time to vote since early voting started on April 27 and continued until May 5. And there were several places to find information about the candidates' views online, including impartial sites such as lwvcollin.org or The Dallas Morning News’ voter’s guide.

I realize that city elections usually don’t have great turnouts, but I thought that since we had to find someone to replace our longtime Mayor Pat Evans, and decide whether or not it’s a good idea to fund certain projects during a difficult economy, you would all go out in stronger numbers.

We have a vibrant and diverse city, with many different viewpoints, so unless we make the 20-minute effort to vote, the city’s leaders will never best reflect our varied opinions.

While we can’t go back and increase the voting power now, you can still become a well-informed citizen and make sure your voice is heard to new Mayor-elect Phil Dyer and others.

Our colleagues in The Dallas Morning News Metro department have been doing a great job blogging about the election results at planoblog.dallasnews.com. You also can contact Dyer directly through his Web site at phildyer.org or talk with City Council members at the next Neighborhood Roundtable on June 4 at the Plano Sports Authority Stars Center on Preston Meadow Drive.

I am the Plano/Murphy and West Plano neighborsgo editor and can be reached at neighborsgo.com/angela or achambers@neighborsgo.com. Got a story, photo or video you'd like to share? Post them directly on neighborsgo.com. Got a story idea? Send it to me directly. For more about how neighborsgo.com works with our neighborsgo print editions, please visit neighborsgo.com/help.