Favors nonpartisan county elections

Editor:

I am writing in support of the majority opinion that has been presented by the Lake County Local Government Review Commission.

The first recommendation was for nonpartisan elections for countywide offices. It is hard to imagine how party politics can affect the management of the various county offices. The work that is conducted in these offices is pretty straightforward with little opportunity for broad philosophical and policy differences shaping this work.

Furthermore, in the last election a small percentage of the Lake County electorate elected the Republican Sheriff and the County Superintendent of Schools. I spoke with a number of voters who felt totally disenfranchised in the countywide elections. These voters were more motivated to vote in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, and therefore were unable to vote in those two primary contests. By having nonpartisan countywide elections all voters would have a say in those countywide races.

I also believe that we should only vote for the county commissioner candidates from our own commission district. I think that this is particularly important with the substantial Native American population in our county. Historically these people have had very little say in our county government. This would give them a greater opportunity to elect a candidate from one of the districts, and would provide a venue for greater county and tribal government cooperation and communication. Other counties have moved to district only voting in their county elections to provide for a better opportunity for minority representation on their commissions.

Please vote yes for nonpartisan countywide elections and voting for county commissioners only within the district that a candidate comes from.

Brodie Moll

Polson