BN endorses voters, election workers

Shall we have robust, yet open-minded discussion about which president (Maine state senator, local representative) to vote for?

Or, have most people already made up their minds, therefore making any endorsement a moot point?

Shall this newspaper endorse the mere act of voting?

The answer is: Of course.

The best bet is to refrain from endorsing any single candidate or any particular party. Instead, the preferred stance is to encourage people to vote on the issues.

While folks are “casting their ballots at the polls” (don’t you love that overused phrase?) let us remind everyone about the people who have decided not to run in another election.

Let us turn our thoughts to the former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) who resigned this year. There’s a woman who deserves accolades. Her achievements could fill our newspaper with stories just like those of our late editor/publisher Eula Shorey.

Be reminded that Snowe stepped down from a place of power because it was no longer fruitful — with all the fighting between two parties instead of reaching across the aisle to join hands with people sitting on the other pews.

Well, if that was not enough to impress our readers: Remember recently a group of college students immortalized her with a giant (how tall, where, what year) Snowe Woman during one of Maine’s snowiest winters. May Olympia Snowe’s days create many more great memories as she spends time with her grandchildren, friends, and family.

On Nov. 6, the polling places will open in the morning. By evening, groups of people will be on pins and needles as results are tallied.

Let us commend those volunteers everywhere who will spend the day looking through computer-generated lists of voters’ names, and properly handing out each ballot. At night, those people will be busy counting those ballots — sometimes by machine, sometimes by hand.

Hats off to our Election Day workers!

Salute to the men and women who fly the planes and drive the vehicles that bring our U.S. politicians around our nation.

If one thinks it might be difficult to debate before TV cameras that will reach millions, imagine flying the plane that takes our nation’s president safely from place to place in good faith.

It is in good faith that we vote.

Each of us believes our vote is worth something; and that it is American to vote.

There are some people who do not envelop this value. Here, in America, that is okay.

It is the American way — a guaranteed set of rights backed by an amendment to our Constitution that allows its citizens to disagree with, make fun of and to speak out against its government. That written document even permits Americans to refuse or to forget to vote without suffering any consequences.

So, let us make voting one of our many wise, American choices. — DD