Primary elections

For the past several months, candidate hopefuls have been pounding the pavement shaking hands and kissing babies looking for your vote. Now, it's important to understand that the upcoming May 20 election is only a primary. The only thing it really decides is who gets to keep shaking hands and kissing babies until November's general election.

BUT it is important to vote. The right to choose our leaders is one of the reasons the Revolutionary War took place. Before the war began, Britain issued several laws in an attempt to reign in the colonist. Long story short. Paul Revere road, the war raged on, the French (Yes, those French) stepped in to help the unprepared colonist get out from under Britain's rule, bombs bursted in air....

The moral to the very abridged history lesson is that about 25,700 men, women and children (7,200 in battle; 10,000 from disease and exposure; and 8,500 in British prisons) died to free what is now the United States. Through that freedom we have got the right to choose our leaders.

Very few exercise their right to vote and that is very sad. If you don't vote you are disparaging those who died in every war from the revolution to the current Mr. Bush's war.

So, on May 20, exercise your right to vote; chose who will lead this state and this country. Remember, every vote counts and makes the difference.

Races that will affect Todd County include:
House of Representative Sheldon Baugh will step down after this term. The five vying for his seat are:
Mary Jane King
Tim Thompson
Kent Knight
Billy Hall
Michael Smith (note parties were not mentioned. See above for reason)

Commonwealth Attorney for Todd and Logan counties. This is a special election. Commonwealth Attorney Charles Orange passed away after Christmas, barely a year into a new term. An attorney has been named interim until a replacement could be found. Running for the office are:

Logan County Attorney Elizabeth Wilson and
Acting Commonwealth Attorney Gail Guiling.

No candidate will be expounded upon. The Standard is not in the business of telling voters for whom to vote, just to give you the knowledge you need to make an educated decision.

So, mark your calendars and vote May 20. Don't worry, jury pools are no longer pulled from voting records so don't worry about that. Do your civic duty vote. If you don't you have no right to complain later.

Posted by Stephanie