In a story you’ve probably already heard about, The voters in Dover, PA sent a message yesterday by voting out their entire school board in favor of a pro-evolution slate. From the article:

The election results were a repudiation of the first school district in the nation to order the introduction of intelligent design in a science class curriculum. The policy was the subject of a trial in Federal District Court that ended last Friday. A verdict by Judge John E. Jones III is expected by early January.

"I think voters were tired of the trial, they were tired of intelligent design, they were tired of everything that this school board brought about," said Bernadette Reinking, who was among the winners.

The election will not alter the facts on which the judge must decide the case. But if the intelligent design policy is defeated in court, the new school board could refuse to pursue an appeal. It could also withdraw the policy, a step that many challengers said they intended to take.

"We are all for it being discussed, but we do not want to see it in biology class," said Judy McIlvaine, a member of the winning slate. "It is not a science."

I don’t have much to add, except this. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Christian Right gained their initial political power by running in school board elections all over this country. School board elections tend to be off-year elections where voter turnout is very low, so their candidates were able to win with little to no opposition, sometimes winning with less than 10% of the eligible vote. If people don’t want to see the Intelligent Design debate continue, then they need to vote more often than once every four years. Even the off-year elections count… sometimes more than we realize.