By now, everyone in Mount Airy should know there is a city election on Tuesday — with the possible exception of those who have been in a cave for the last six months, or in outer space.

But being aware that the election is scheduled, and offering moral or financial support to a particular candidate, are simply not enough. There is now the little task of actually going to the polls and making your choices known.

I just used the word “task,” but voting is really not a chore at all. Election officials have bent over backward to make balloting procedures as simple and fair as possible.

Much money has been spent on computerized touch-screen voting machines that have allowed the modern electoral process to be much more user-friendly than the methods of times past. The precinct workers are always friendly and helpful, and in all my years I’ve never seen anyone being tortured at a voting station.

An already simple process also has been made even easier by local officials’ decision to supply an early voting site, which not only allows flexibility to citizens in casting ballots but to register for the election if they haven’t already. (That program ends today, by the way.)

It also must be mentioned that thousands of taxpayer dollars were spent to provide that special service, so kudos are in order for those taking advantage of the early voting program.

So there is simply no excuse — repeat, NO EXCUSE — for someone not devoting a few minutes to visit the polls and push a couple of buttons. The only exceptions should be cases in which someone is physically incapable of casting a ballot, or involved in an emergency such as being held hostage by an armed lunatic.

But because slightly less than 20 percent of the electorate bothered to vote in an Oct. 6 primary leading up to Tuesday’s municipal election, the numbers would indicate that many able-bodied local residents just didn’t bother to participate.

And since I would bet that the roughly 80 percent who didn’t cast ballots weren’t kept from doing so because someone was holding them at gunpoint, I must now ask, just what was your excuse? Aside from those extenuating circumstances previously mentioned, there simply isn’t one.

It always amazes me how people can camp out for three days to get tickets for a concert or sporting event. Or they’ll wait for hours for the debut of the latest “movie of the century” (despite the previous movie of the century being released only a few months before).

Folks also will show up at 5 a.m. in freezing conditions outside a department store the day after Thanksgiving, or stand in line for hours to get a table at a popular restaurant.

But try getting some of these same people to go vote! You might as well be inviting them to spend a day in a torture chamber, although it has been well-documented that voting is neither time-consuming nor painful.

I don’t want to spend a great deal of space discussing people’s misguided priorities, but I think participating in an election — especially one on a local level — is just as important as any of those other activities.

People think presidential races are a big deal, but despite all the excitement over Barack Obama in 2008, the estimated voter turnout was a paltry 63 percent nationally. Some might consider that a good number, but I won’t be satisfied with anything less than 95 percent for any election.

I hope that is the case for Tuesday’s balloting, but I am not so naive as to believe this actually will occur. But my point is that it SHOULD.

The race for Mount Airy mayor, which will come to an end that day, likely represents one of the most important decisions to be made by citizens in years, and for years to come.

Whoever the next mayor is will play a key role in attracting new industry to this area, not to mention the function that person will fill in representing our community to leaders on the state and national levels.

This individual also will lead a council that takes such actions as setting the property tax rate, deciding whether utility costs will rise and making sure our community is safe and clean. Congress or the president certainly weren’t the ones who approved a major round of annexations here in the past few years, which is another example of how local officials directly impact people’s lives.

So citizens should respond accordingly, and be ashamed of themselves if they do not bother to cast a ballot.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing inherently wrong with going to a popular concert or movie, or waiting for hours to shop or eat.

However, there is no reason on Earth why someone can’t do all those things and still vote as well.

Tom Joyce is a staff reporter for The Mount Airy News. He can be reached at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or 719-1924.