Regarding lightly-patronized special elections in which a scant percentage of voters make the decisions for the majority, an official of the Utah Taxpayers Association has raised some timely questions. “Has anyone ever considered requiring elections to be scheduled with either primary or general elections where they would get maximum voter exposure?” asks Jack A. Olson, director of the UTA. “Or perhaps iuiring a given percentage of gistered voters to turn out before any bond can be approved…0r perhaps our laws should be rewritten so that they require school districts to give more publicity to those elections.” Mr. Olson was prompted to write his comments in the UTAH TAXPAYER, monthly bulletin published by the non-profit taxpayers association, by the small percentage of voters going to the polls when the Murray School District held an election Sept. 27 on a $7 million school bond elece tion. Only 955 of 12,632 registered. voters cast ballots, he noted. This would figure out at less than 8 per cent of the electorate. Here in Utah County we remember a school election or two when the percentage wasn’t much better. Just last week a leeway tax proposal was approved in the Granite School District on an exceedingly light vote. Of course. it can be argued, the fault is with the voter if he doesn’t take time to go to the polls. But in a day when state and national changes are being made in election laws to make voting easier and more attractive, it would seem something ought to be done to’eliminate situations where a handful of voters, can control an election. Mr. Olson pointed out that in the Murray ballot, the 400 employees of the school district could have been enough to carry the election had they and their spouses voted. “We are not saying that this is what happened, only citing a possibility.” He acknowledged that perhaps the bond issue should indeed have been approved. “Maybe the school district needed the new classrooms and other facilities.” But again, this wasn’t the concern – his question was the smallness of the vote and how to get broader participation. Part of the problem undoubtedly is voter apathy; the need for election law revision might exist 1 and it seems to us there’s merit to putting an issue on the general election ballot when feasible rather than going the “Special election” route. We agree with Mr. Olson that the entire subject warrants consideration by the Legislature. t