It's all over bar the voting and in Brighton and Hove, where there is an experimental all-postal ballot, even the voting is pretty well finished.

I'm talking about the local elections, which have made frenzied politicians foam but which have raised little more than a yawn from most voters.

Last week I spent time sauntering around Sussex when I had a few days off work and I was struck by the absence of posters.

One day I went on a 35-mile bike ride from Hove to Dial Post in West Sussex through sundry towns and villages and saw fewer than 20 on the way. Seven of them were for quirky independents and hardly any for the major parties.

It's likely only one in three of us in Sussex will bother to vote and that only includes those who are on the register of electors. Even taking into account those who have died or departed from the county, this shows great apathy. The all-postal ballot in the city should boost turnout a bit but to nothing like the extent hoped for.

Why don't we care about using democratic rights, hard fought for in the past and still denied to millions of people in other parts of the world?

One reason is that councils don't count for much and the turnout would be at least twice as great were it a general election.

Another reason is affluence. When people were poorer, even a small rise in rates could make a difference to their lifestyle. Now even the thumping rises in council tax seen all over Sussex this spring do not seem to have made much impact on voters.

Then there's the politics. Some of the shine has inevitably faded from New Labour after six years in power. Yet the Conservatives are still remembered for sleaze and do not have much allure under the dogged but decidedly lacklustre leadership of Iain Duncan Smith.

The Liberal Democrats are often perceived as being all things to all people while the Greens are too small to have much chance of winning. The independents are a motley crew and most stand no chance of success.

Many voters also feel that whatever they do will make little difference. But people power can be effective. There are wards all over the county that have completely changed allegiance over the years and politicians whose appeal to the voters has transcended party loyalty.

It is true that whatever the result, there will be little immediate difference in the way councils are run after tonight - even if there are political landslides. Dustbins will still be emptied, plants put into parks and planning applications processed. About 90 per cent of business is completely routine and uncontroversial.

But good councils can make a difference.

They can ensure services are efficiently run rather than degenerating into bureaucratic waste. They can work in partnership with the private sector for the general good of the district.

The best councillors, despite local and central restrictions, can be inspirational.

You have only to look at a resort such as Hastings, depressed, desperate and deprived, and compare it with elegant Eastbourne a few miles along the coast to see the difference good councils can make.

Eastbourne, whether under Liberal Democrat or Conservative rule, always knew what it wanted as a resort and strove to achieve it.

I have already voted for the two candidates in my ward in Hove I feel will make the best councillors. I may be wrong or they may not win but my democratic right is extremely precious to me and must not be wasted.

I wish more people felt the same but at least they have the luxury, denied to many others worldwide, of deciding not to vote.