Gore Vidal took the cynical view. “Apparently, a democracy is a place where numerous elections are held at great cost without issues and with interchangeable candidates,” the noted American author reputedly said.
While it is difficult to argue with Vidal about the frequency of elections in this country, many of us tend to hold the process in a slightly higher regard. Because there are, indeed, issues to be considered; and there are, indeed, differences between the candidates. Because of that, The Columbian Editorial Board has spent the past several months discussing the issues and meeting with the candidates in order to help readers become as informed as possible.
Tuesday is Election Day, a midterm election featuring a race for a Congressional seat and numerous positions in the state Legislature. There are statewide ballot measures, a contest for Clark County Sheriff and other county positions, and a noteworthy county charter.
Here is a brief recap of The Columbian’s recommendations for the election. As we often have noted, these are merely recommendations; we suggest that voters become informed and then vote according to their conscience. We also suggest that voters take the time to consider the reasoning behind our decisions by reading our editorials (http://www.columbian.com/news/opinion/endorsements/). Sometimes we feel one candidate clearly is superior; other times there are two strong candidates worthy of consideration. We also suggest that voters watch videos of the Editorial Board meetings with candidates. Those typically are attached to the editorial, or they can be found at http://www.columbian.com/news/opinion.
