Letters to the Editor: Election judges needed
Election judges needed
Are you looking for an opportunity to serve your community? Would you like to be paid for serving your community? If so, the Lake County Election Office has a great option for you.
We are taking applications for election judges. Successful elections require the help of dependable and dedicated community members; voters depend on election judges to run polling places and the counting center on Election Day.
As an election judge, you will help ensure our county’s elections remain secure, fair, accurate and accessible to all voters. To serve as an election judge you must be registered to vote in Lake County; not be related to a candidate on the ballot within your precinct; work 15 hours on Election Day; attend election judge training in April; and commit to working both the primary (June 7) and general (Nov. 8) elections.
If you meet the requirements listed above and would like to be a part of the team that makes fair and accurate elections possible in Lake County, call 406-883-7268 or send an email to tkramer@lakemt.gov. Applications are available at the Lake County Election Office or online at www.lakemt.gov/election/election.html.
— Toni Kramer, Lake County election administrator
More respect needed all around
With the extraordinary stressors that we have today, many of us are circling the wagons and thinking of others as outsiders. Some politicians are all too willing to use this human tendency in order to put together a base of support and to keep it motivated.
Lately, I have been following the online public pages of our elected representatives. It is disheartening that most representatives follow partisan talking points and put up misleading arguments. People who comment follow suit, and the conversation is anything but civil.
In fact, people often urge those they disagree with to leave the state. Of course, this will not happen. We will all be living here for many years yet. How much better to understand each other’s ideas and experiences, and to work out solutions that we can all live with?
We must conclude that our representatives owe us a better presentation of ideas. We citizens owe more respect for their office in our comments — and we all owe one another a serious hearing. We need to understand how policies impact the lives of our neighbors — however different from us they may be — because we really are all in this together.
— Gail Trenfield, St. Ignatius
Voting rights must be a priority
I begin with a statement I found in the Jan.16 edition of the Missoulian from an elementary student at the Missoula International School: “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now."
How relevant is that statement? My grandparents came from Europe in the early 1900s. They came to America to escape poverty and suppressive governments where freedoms were denied. They were very proud to be Americans and taught me never to take that freedom for granted. At 18, I registered to vote and as a young, white, educated and financially stable woman. I never had a problem registering and voting as I moved around the country.
Voting for many Americans has not been that easy. Now more than ever our freedom to vote is being challenged by many states that have enacted voting laws to make it harder for some Americans to vote. Those being of a different race, those living in rural areas, those without the financial means to drive long distances to the polls; the list of suppressive voting bills goes on and on. Many of these laws are being challenged in courts. Our federal government, through the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, is trying to make voting access a priority, and make sure our system is trusted and safe from fraud.
Time will tell how these legal battles play out or the fate of these bills before the U.S. Senate. Democracy is not a spectator sport. We must participate and vote and make sure every American has the same opportunity to cast their vote. Only then can our democracy survive.
— Gerry Browning, Polson