Weekly Update from the Publisher

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Rachel Dahl
10/13/2020 10:06 AM (update 04/11/2023 01:53 AM)

Weekly Update from the Publisher — *Rachel Dahl, Publisher*

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It’s almost over!!!! Only 23 more days of Election Year 2020 which has drug on for no less than four-hundred-thirty-four years. We should have seen it as a harbinger of what this whole year has been in terms of unique and interesting circumstances.

Don’t get me wrong, I love elections and the democratic process. Most of my life has been spent involved in one campaign or other, and my poor children were raised in election headquarters, riding in parades, and being quiet in the back of some candidates’ night. Really, we should all appreciate our political process and the candidates who are willing to put themselves in the ring for the untold abuse of what has become that “process” in all its degenerate glory.

I’m just really glad this one is almost done.

It was actually, pretty fun to be able to host our local “virtual” Candidates’ Night with Steve Ranson and Larry Barker. What a perfect microcosm of what small town life is and should be. Except the masks and social distancing. I’d almost endure six more months of the election if these COVID restrictions would go away. It feels so counterintuitive to be participating in a free election, in the greatest social experiment the world has ever seen, without the public physically present. It felt sort of like the old stories our grandparents would tell about the whole family gathering in the living room around the old transistors.

Remember when Candidates’ Night was one of the social events of the year and we would pack the convention center not once, but several times throughout the election year? We would have candidates’ night for the primary and then a whole new round for the general election after the candidates were narrowed down. If memory serves, the local paper always hosted one with Bob Erickson moderating, both local parties hosted their own, and the retired public employees would join with the teacher’s association and host one. One time, during primary season, there were actually 11 people running for school board and Candidates’ Night went until close to 11 o’clock p.m.

At any rate – here’s another reminder to make sure you go vote. I’m waiting until the real, live election day on November 3^rd and going in person to cast my vote. Although early voting is a lovely idea, and this year we have this crazy mail-in thing – my personal feeling is that election day is sacred and should be respected with an in-person appearance on the actual day. And COVID or not, it is one of the social events of the year and I wouldn’t miss seeing those ladies who have been volunteering to run the polls for years, for anything. I want my candy, I want my “I voted sticker” and I really want to see what chance meetings – the happy coincidences of who we get to run into while we’re there.

If it’s you, make sure to say hi – if we can recognize each other in spite of the masks.