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Mail-in ballots
Vote Colgan, incumbents and 'yes' to end term limits
Voting is going the way of three-channel television and the corner grocery store, and Americans will be a little worse for it. Cost slowly is doing away with election polling places.
La Plata County's very experienced county clerk, Linda Daley, said last week that some department budget savings can result from a mail-in rather than a polling-place election for party primaries in August 2010. The cost of polling judges, polling place materials and transporting ballot boxes exceeds the cost of sending ballots through the mail.
Likely the only location to hand-deliver a ballot on Election Day will be the clerk's office in the courthouse.
If that continues, the next generation will not know what it is like to chat with their neighbors at the neighborhood school or church while going through the voter verification steps, or to put their ballot into the secure box. That experience does build community. Shortly after the polls open at 7 a.m., before work, in blue jeans or with a child in hand, participating with your neighbors in the serious act of voting is a part of democracy. We cheer when we see that same scenario taking place elsewhere on the planet, particularly in countries that are emerging from authoritarian rule.
Mail-in ballots do result in larger voter turnouts; a busy schedule on Election Day can take precedence over a stop at the polling place. And with the ballot in hand at home, there is more time to better consider the candidates and the questions; voters should be more thoughtful in their decision making.
Absent, however, is the shared participation in selecting our leaders and making policy decisions; that makes us all a bit weaker.
Mail-in elections are under way. Ballots should be in the hands of voters in School District 9-R where there is one contested seat: former elementary school teacher and current contractor Bill Bowlby is opposing Joe Colgan, a former Fort Lewis College accounting professor who was appointed to the seat in August. While Bowlby would be a fine addition to the board, Colgan also was an interim finance manager for the district and at this time of fiscal stress would bring his special skills to the board. We urge a vote - on your mail-in ballot - for Colgan.
Andrew Burns, Julia Levy and incumbent Jeff Schell are unopposed, but deserve a yes vote, too. Guiding a school board is a critical task, and time consuming.
Those living in a large part of rural La Plata County also are voting whether to remove the term limits for board members who govern the Florida Mosquito Control District. Reducing the mosquito population requires experience, and we urge a yes vote on that mail-in ballot question.
As always, ballots have to be in the clerk's office by 7 p.m. Tuesday.
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