Votes are earned, not deserved

Posted

Running unopposed does not mean you get a free ride.

Ballots were mailed to more than 27,000 already-registered voters in Jefferson County this week for the 2018 Primary Election.

Those nearly 30,000 voters deserve the respect from their future elected officials.

The staff at The Leader has spent their time preparing for its voter’s guide (see page B-section for details). This included speaking with candidates at local, state and federal levels of government, along with gathering the basic information all Washington voters should know upon receiving their ballots in the mail.

The Primary Election in Jefferson County is set up so that only very few seats are determined this year.

On the local level, candidates running for the Democratic party of the Precinct Officer Committee will be the only seat determined. However, four candidates running for Commission District 3 will be narrowed to two.

All partisan seats that do not have more than two candidates are on the ballot, but will be moving forward to the General Election in November.

All nonpartisan candidates who have two or less candidates are automatically advancing to the General Election without appearing on the Primary Ballot, this includes PUD candidates and District Court Judge.

Yes, this also means those running unopposed are also advancing unless someone has successfully held a write-in campaign Aug. 7.

But, just because candidates most likely advance to the General Election, doesn’t mean they should take for granted a voter will automatically vote for them.

Voters still deserve to hear what that unopposed candidate stands for, their values, how they will make a difference, what they want to change, issues they want to address and more. Make your voters want you in the seat, not just feeling like they are “stuck with you” with because no one else chose to run in time.

Your tax dollars will be spent. See to it that the candidates inform you of their intentions.

Unopposed candidates still have to earn the right to represent their voters. They should still be putting in the work to let voters know the candidate is running to serve the voters.

Candidates, both unopposed and not, can’t do that, and are not doing that, when they are taking for granted the votes casted by the voters.

We encourage all candidates to make sure they get their name out as much as possible in a positive, clean campaign to inform the voters of who you are.

We are also encouraging voters to pay attention to those candidates putting in the work to show they not just want the position, but care about the position - and it’s voters. If they don’t deign to inform you, the voter, before they are elected, why would they chose to do so after?