EDITORIAL: Get ready for election season

Published 1:00 pm Saturday, March 5, 2022

Qualifying begins next week for primary races and the November general election. This year there are several key midterm elections that voters will decide. Although it’s not a big year for local races, some local candidates have announced their intentions to run for statewide office. Next week’s qualifying, will determine how those races will take shape. Of local interest will be the race for state senate, state representative and secretary of state, Congress and U.S. Senate, among others. 

If you’re not planning on running for office, you still have responsibilities for this election year. First, make sure you’re registered to vote. Then, get informed. 

After next week’s qualifying, the campaigning will start to ramp up leading into the May primary races. That means even more political ads, emails, calls and the like. While we may be tempted to tune it all out and look the other way, responsible voters need to know where the candidates stand on issues — and there are a lot of vitally important issues to weigh. So filter out all the noise and get informed on the candidates because how we vote carries great responsibility. 

Sometimes we like to think of the right to vote as a true privilege.

But with rights and privilege comes responsibility, even civic duty.

All of us owe some allegiance, some civic responsibility to the very government we have created to guarantee and protect our freedoms.

None of those duties are more inextricably tied to freedom itself than voting in open, free, fair elections.

Civic duties go beyond merely obeying the law, serving on juries and paying income taxes.

We are only a self-governed people when we exercise our rights to vote and pick our leaders.

As qualifying is set to begin, remember these key dates: 

April 25 – absentee ballot requests begin for the May primary; last day to register to vote and be eligible to vote for the May primary

May 2 – advanced voting begins for primary

May 13 – last day to turn in absentee ballot requests for primary

May 24 – primary election day.

Aug. 22 – earliest day to apply for an absentee ballot for November general election

Oct. 11 – last day to register to vote and be eligible for November general election

Oct. 17 – advanced voting begins for general election

Nov. 7 – last day to register and be eligible to vote in November general election

Nov. 8 – Election Day

Do you participate in democracy?

Do you exercise your right to vote?

Are you registered?

It is easy to complain about what our elected officials do or don’t do.

But what did you do to elect them?

If you wake up the morning of any election day this year and want to vote, are you registered to do so?

Can you exercise your right to vote?

Do your civic duty.