I live in rural Port Ludlow, south of the Hood Canal Bridge, in Jefferson County’s Fire District 3. 

I received my ballot for the Aug. 3 Primary Election yesterday. I try to be a responsible voter. I read the newspaper. I am very able to use the internet to search. I could find nothing on the internet, and am unaware of anything in the Leader recently that would tell me how to vote and which candidate to favor based on qualifications — because none of them have much internet presence. 

I could find the county information sheet on one - but the candidate had not provided any information. The other two are mysteries. One has no internet presence that identifies him as being from Jefferson County — there are lots of folks out there with his name — but couldn’t figure out which one he was. The third candidate has a presence - sounds like a nice guy - and has apparently been a fire commissioner for some years.

However, what his bio says indicates that he’s planning to spend a lot of his time in Mexico in the future, as he is now retired. Hmm. This is just a snapshot of what I find when I try to educate myself about candidates running for office in this county. I have lived here since 2000, and am pretty active in the community, but I didn’t grow up here, and don’t know everyone in the county, as some do. Candidates running for office need to get out there and tell people what they plan to do for the community in the office for which they are running. If fire commissioner is not important enough to do that — then why are we voting — why not make it a paid position, instead.

Kathryn Bates
PORT LUDLOW