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Somehow, four years have passed us by and it’s time once again to select who will run our county. When I started voting many contests in Caroline were decided in the Democratic primary as no member of the GOP was running; today, there’s been a one-eighty. Some races will be wrapped up when the dust settles on the Republican primary.
Many candidates over the years never bothered with signage; today, if someone doesn’t have massive 4’ by 8’ signs on every street corner, well, gosh: how serious could they be? I will repeat the old line a wise politico told me years ago: yard signs don’t vote.
As I hope you already know, the real heroes of this process are not those who chose to throw their name in the ring. No, if you want to see what a hard worker truly looks like in 2026, venture over to the HAPS Building and go visit the gang there at the Board of Elections. There ought to be a law against them having to work such long hours! The most I can muster is to raise my hand every couple years to be an Election Judge. When I pull into the polls, the sun not yet up (mirroring most of my brain cells at that hour) I find the full-time staff already there and cheerful. An hour or so after the polls close, as I’m preparing to trudge home and hit the sack, those same staff might have hours left in their night.
If you are coming out to vote (and why wouldn’t you?) I shall give you a brief checklist: Are you registered to vote? Do you know to which party you belong? If not a Democrat or a Republican, you do realize you cannot vote in the primary election, correct? Do you know where you live? If you live in Hillsboro, you promise not to vote in, say, Preston? Or, Hurlock? To be clear, if you do show up, we will make 100% sure that you can cast a provisional ballot. And that same hard-working staff will work hard to see if your ballot should be counted.
On your way to the polls, consider that political parties are nowhere to be found in our constitution. Nor are primary elections. No, politicians and the political parties to which they belong, that’s who came up with the primary. The government doesn’t have to make it happen. The alternative is the fabled “smoke-filled room.” I spent some time on the state central committee of on of the two major parties; they adhered to the indoor smoking ban, but there were indeed some big decisions that came to be made in those “secret conclaves.” Entertaining to watch, if your side was winning; it did, indeed, remind me a lot of sausage-making. Just know that, here and now, the candidates who will be on the ballot in November will be decided not around some table in a dark room in Denton; they will be decided by the members of the party who choose to show up and vote. It’s in your hands.
Oh, and if you read later this year that Jack LeGates got one vote for County Commissioner…
