To some degree, receiving compensation allows trustees to spend the time necessary to undertake their significant responsibilities. The compensation received equals very low wages when divided by the hundreds and hundreds of hours required to do the job. Elections of community college trustees are a sham. Only a small percentage of voters actually cast ballots for trustees. They do not truly represent the people.
Board members work to get elected because they want to make a difference in their community.
When they pay their filing fees, walk precincts, organize campaign committees, spend personal resources on campaign expenses, and speak at community forums, they are making the effort because they want to contribute to the advancement of community college education. They do everything in their power to encourage voters to participate in the democratic process. In some district elections, tens of thousands of voters, even hundreds of thousands of voters, turnout for the community college board election. In some, very few people turn out. Low voter turnout is a much broader societal issue.