In a previous opinion letter, an individual said there were over 22,000 “eligible voters” in Fountain Hills (FH), which means nothing. What means something is the number of “registered voters.” You know, those that can vote.

The writer stated that for mayor, in the August election, that 3,947 votes were cast for Linda Kavanagh, or 17.5 percent of the eligible voters. Again, eligible means nothing. The number of FH registered voters is 17,152. (Reference: recorder.maricopa.gov/voterregistration, then select Zip Code, these totals are updated continuously.)

Now what really counts is the number of voters who actually voted for the mayor position, which was 5,986. Therefore, using the number of actual voters (5,986) to the number Ms. Kavanagh received (3,947) that would mean she received 66 percent of the cast votes. I don’t know why 11,166 individuals didn’t vote and that is a shame, but those that did vote selected Ms. Kavanagh by a wide margin and that is what counts.

Maybe someday more registered voters will become interested and vote. Until that time, the number who actually vote speak for the whole town.