Yesterday, Columbus citizens voted unopposed Republican Jim Lienhoop mayor.

Lienhoop succeeds Kristen Brown, whom he beat in the Republican Primary in May. Due to his popularity among both political parties, no Democrats chose to run.

Lienhoop received 4,020 votes.

Troy Buntin, who teaches Government and ACP Government, believes that not enough teens vote due to a lack of knowledge about local elections.

“When you’re 18 and in high school, you’re still in that kid mind-frame, and so you don’t see the impact of the election. You’re spending most of your time on social media and more entertainment instead of educating yourself on who to vote for,” he said.

Buntin also speculates that Lienhoop’s lack of competition factored into the lack of votes in general, which has been a common topic of discussion in his classes recently.

“Why would people go vote when the outcome is already decided? That’s what is disappointing to me,” Buntin said.

Due to this lack of motivation and knowledge, it is difficult to find students of age who voted in the local elections.

Also elected were Lori Booher [R] and Tom Dell [D] to the City Council At-Large, Incumbent Dascal Bunch [R] to City Council District 1, and Elaine Wagner [D] to City Council District 2.