We had better hope that talk of people being fatigued by politics does not carry too much credence in our part of the world, because next year could be a truly bumper one for Nottinghamshire elections. As it stands, the county will be heading to the ballot box to choose its next Police and Crime Commissioner in May.
The same month, the first ever elections for the East Midlands Mayor are due to be held in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. On top of that, a general election is also widely expected at some point next year, with all Nottinghamshire's eleven representatives battling to stay in post.
Despite the famous 'Brenda from Bristol' moment, when an unsuspecting pensioner shot to national fame by remarking "not another one" in relation to the 2017 general election, opportunities to democratically express ourselves should of course be welcomed. But proposals unveiled this week to radically alter Nottinghamshire's political boundaries could muddy the waters when it comes to our democratic process.
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The boundaries of all UK constituencies have been redrawn under plans which will see people in dozens of areas being under one constituency the night before the election, before officially transferring to another the day after. This is a process which has happened countless times over the years, with the aim being to try and balance out the population of each constituency so that each MP represents a similar number of voters.
Clearly, this is a necessary process if a House of Commons broadly representative of the country is to be maintained. But the Boundary Commission, the body which has been working on the new constituency plans, seems to have placed too much emphasis on mathematics and too little on making democracy accessible.
The Boundary Commission's final proposals were unveiled this week and it is now up to the Government and Parliament to formally approve them. In Nottinghamshire, specific changes will include Kimberley now being represented by the Nottingham North MP instead of Broxtowe's.
Places currently represented by Mansfield's MP will now come under Ashfield's, areas represented by Bassetlaw's MP will come under Newark's - and so the confusion goes on. These changes will inevitably bed in soon enough and with it, any possible confusion will hopefully dissipate.
But one area of complete confusion will remain - local councils and MPs in too many places simply will not overlap. To go back to the example of Kimberley, I was in the town this week and one resident asked me if the changes would mean that they would now come under Nottingham City Council.
It won't. Kimberley will be represented by one of Nottingham's three MPs, but will not have any say when it comes to electing the city's councillors, instead continuing to be represented by Broxtowe Borough Council.
Unfortunately, this is not the only example. The Pleasley Hill and Bull Farm areas of Mansfield will be represented by Ashfield's MP, but will continue to be represented by Mansfield District Council - a point the town's Mayor had to clarify when the initial plans came out.
Whatever the merits in terms of balancing out populations, this is a ridiculous situation and one which is surely remedied by simply ensuring that the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies broadly match district council maps. It cannot be beyond the wit of a body like the Boundary Commission to have those two considerations running in parallel when drawing up their plans.
This is an issue which is highly unlikely to affect turnout come the general election, given that people will still be voting to elect a local MP. The issue comes when the election is long forgotten and when situations arise in which people require the help of their local representatives.
We know that far from everybody chooses to vote in elections, but everyone in theory could be in a position where they need the help of their local MP or councillor at some stage in life. For people like this, many of whom may never have engaged with politics, the political system must be as accessible as possible on first contact.
But imagine again people in Kimberley, who may turn to their Nottingham MP, but will not be able to turn to a Nottingham councillor. If it's a councillor they are after, they will have to turn to a Broxtowe councillor, or perhaps a member of Nottinghamshire County Council - an authority which does not cover Nottingham.
For students of politics and for those who regularly take an interest in current affairs, these changes are easy to dissect. But people who are not political anoraks should not be excluded from engaging with the system when they need to.
The Boundary Commission boasted that in drawing up its plans, it had taken into account 60,000 public comments. In a country of nearly 50 million eligible voters, that figure speaks to the inadequacy of the Commission's public engagement.
It also perhaps goes some way in explaining why the changes to our boundaries could end up as barriers to the political system for those most in need. A full round-up of all the planned changes in our county can be found here.
