Primary ballots await the filling in of little boxes

Lou Marzeles
Editor and Publisher

     Ballots have arrived in mailboxes in the area, and now it’s time to fill in boxes next to people’s names and return the ballots by Aug. 17.
     Speaking as a newcomer to this process—everywhere I’ve lived before, voting was a single-day outing fraught with high expectation—it still feels strange to luxuriate over choices for about two weeks before having to make a final decision: do I drop the ballot in the mail or put it in the sidewalk drop box? Oh, yes, and which candidates to vote for?
     No slight of candidates and their hard work in campaigning is intended by these remarks. There are, of course, serious consequences to the choices made in this election. I like the fact that I’ve got some time still to reflect.
     In previous journalistic experience, I’ve worked on newspapers which endorsed political candidates. Those newspapers were in large cities where declaration of political opinion was readily absorbed and accommodated. That’s not necessarily true here. That, no doubt, is a big reason why The Sentinel has never endorsed candidates before.
     And it’s still not going to, at least not this year. There are several reasons for not doing so, though clearly the candidates have strong supporters and detractors, and, we must conclude, some are certainly more qualified for their potential jobs. I have a sense of who those people are, as does each person reading this. Let’s all vote for those people, whoever they are for us.