Democray on display

That level of interest shows an engaged and interested population, and that is what our democracy is all about. A turnout like that is very reassuring, and, we believe, shows a very patriotic electorate deeply invested in what happens locally, statewide, and nationally. That's the way it should be, but this year the county's voters went above and beyond the normal level of involvement.

Whether they won or lost, we were impressed with the local candidates. Mostly, the campaigns were fair and based on issues, not attacks. And it was grand to see that literally within hours of when the polls closed, many of the political yard signs had been taken down. By the end of the week, virtually all of the signs from all the candidates were gone from throughout the White Salmon/Bingen area, and that is appreciated. In particular, we noticed that the Rex Johnston/Ray Thayer signs were down on the morning after the polls closed.

County Commissioner Johnston personally spent several hours driving around on Wednesday, Nov. 5, to take down his signs from around the west end of the county. That display of personal responsibility deserves a hearty round of applause.

Further, the Klickitat County Auditor's Office did a stellar job handling the election results. The votes were counted swiftly -- we had returns into our office about 15 minutes after the polls closed on Nov. 4 -- and the tallies were reliably updated every day or so. The overall process appeared to run efficiently and smoothly, and Auditor Brenda Sorensen deserves praise and appreciation for coordinating the election machinery.

Indeed, the election workers were so efficient that it might be easy to take their efforts for granted. But we want to recognize the solid work of everyone serving in the Auditor's Office. Great work.

And back to the voters: The final results showed a discerning, intelligent electorate. There was almost no straight party voting. Just look at the results: Klickitat County supported a Democrat for president and Democrats for governor and lieutenant governor, yet also backed Republicans for Secretary of State, Attorney General, for the two County Commission races, and for the two Washington legislative offices.

Area residents were obviously thinking every race through, and voting for who they perceived to be the best candidate rather than simply going by a party label.

Here's one interesting example of what went on as voters filled out there ballots. One local gentlemen pointed out that after he had filled out his ballot, he was curious about how his choices broke down in terms of Republicans and Democrats. He went back to check his ballot and saw he had selected seven Democrats and seven Republicans.

We love voters like that, who are thoughtful and balanced in their approach to deciding who will run our government. It should never be about party labels -- it should be about who has the best ideas for our future.

Clearly, neither party has a corner on good ideas, and conversely, both parties have the occasional bad apples that need to be thrown out. It's always best to explore beyond the "D" or the "R" after someone's name, and we sure saw that philosophy put into practice in Klickitat County this year.

It's the ultimate patriotism.

JB