Our Opinion: Get out and vote

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

At this point, many of you are so sick of the election process that you’d gladly sit through a few more Rod Blagojevich pistachio nut commercials to avoid the onslaught of attack ads flooding the airwaves.

You’ve endured the nonstop, back-to-back-to-back ads. You’ve been annoyed by the “robo-calls.” Your head is swimming from the steady drumbeat of who said what and when and how and in what context.

No matter how tortuous your route to election day, don’t let the distaste for how candidates market themselves deter you from going to the polls.

All elections are important. This one may be more important than many in the past. Federal, state and local office-holders will face difficult budget decisions in their elected terms.

*U.S. Senate and House candidates face a $13 trillion budget deficit.

*State elected officials face a budget gap of perhaps $13 to $15 billion.

*Locally, counties are struggling with ways make their budgets work.

That’s where you come in.

Your vote sends a clear message this year how you want candidates to operate in this economically uncertain time.

Get out and vote today. Be able to say that you did your part to fix the big problems facing us all.