Modesto Bee recommendations

If past elections are any indication, and they usually are on, only about one in four registered voters will participate in Tuesday's election — either by voting by mail or at the polls.

The turnout is likely to be lower in places where there's only one or two races on the ballot. Many Turlock voters, for example, only have one decision — the school board.

Of course the lower the turnout, the more important each vote becomes. Take Modesto's City Council District 3. There are four candidates for one seat and the man with the most votes wins in this election; there are no longer runoffs for council seats. In a city of more than 200,000, someone very likely could be elected to the council with only a couple of thousand votes. In 2009, Dave Geer was elected in District 2 with fewer than 600 votes.

So please vote. And if you don't, please don't complain about the outcome.

The full text of The Bee's recommendations for this election are available at modbee.com/elections, as are news articles and letters to the editor about the various races and measures. Candidates also were invited to respond to questionnaires; those can be found under the "biographies" tab on the site. A brief recap:

Modesto City Schools board (3 seats)

Amy Neumann, Solange Altman, Josh Vander Veen

Modesto Irrigation District Division 1

John Duarte

Modesto Irrigation District Division 5

Nick Blom

City of Modesto ballot

• Mayor — No recommendation; we hope to see a runoff between Garrad Marsh and Brad Hawn

• Council District 1 — Philip Moyer

• Council District 3 — Dave Lopez

• Council District 5 — Stephanie Burnside

• Council District 6 — Dave Cogdill Jr.

• Measure N — Expand definition of telecommunications services subject to city utility tax, with a reduction in rate from 6 percent to 5.8 percent. Vote Yes

• Measure P — Advisory vote on eventually extending city sewer service to Rouse-Colorado neighborhood; this measure does not deal with the cost, only whether it should happen. — Vote Yes

• Measure Q — Advisory vote for city to switch to a a defined contribution (401(k)-style) pension plan rather than the current defined benefit plan. The city does not participate in Social Security, so its retirees would not have a safety net. Vote No

• Measure R — Advisory vote to base city employee pensions on the average of the final three years' salary rather than the final year, to avoid spiking. Vote Yes

• Measure S — Advisory vote to raise the retirement age for city employees to an unspecified age "in line with the private sector." Does not distinguish between police, fire and other types of work. Vote No.