Voters will finally get last say in election

There is a lot at stake for voters on Tuesday, even outside the grueling presidential contest.

Give Donald Trump credit for this: He has laid down the gauntlet and issued a challenge to voters.

For weeks the Republican nominee for president has been telling us the system is “rigged,” how that is the only reason he could lose to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Or at least that was his lament a week ago when he was trailing in the polls. Today, with some polls now calling the race a dead heat and Democrat Hillary Clinton still awash in email woes, Trump is not talking so much about how the system is stacked against him.

Now it’s time for voters to take Trump up on his challenge.

It’s time to decide if America will elect its first woman president, or another kind of first, a political outsider who vows to deliver what the masses have called for: Change.

The end line is in sight. With two days left in what at times has seemed like an endless slog of one negative commercial after another, it’s time to make sure you vote matters.

You do that by exercising your constitutional right. You vote. Don’t be swayed by those who insist the system is “rigged.” The only person who can “rig” the system is you — by tuning out, staying away, and wasting your precious constitutional right.

Voter fraud is an ugly term. It strikes at the heart of our democratic system.

In Delaware County, there are concerns being raised about the work of a group aligned with the Democratic Party and some of those they registered to vote. County Republican officials held a press conference Friday and vowed to challenge thousands of those registrations in court. We don’t blame them a bit. Both parties added voters to their rolls in anticipation of this critical presidential election year, but while Republicans added a solid 16,808 new voters, Democratic ranks ballooned by more than 30,000.

The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. All voters in line by 8 p.m. will be permitted to vote.

Typically, the largest crowds show up at the polls before work, between 7 and 9 a.m. and after work at 5 p.m., voter services officials say. By law, polling places must stay open to accommodate voters in line by 8 p.m.

There is a lot at stake on Tuesday, even outside the grueling, ugly, negative donnybrook that will produce the next president.

Control of both houses of Congress is up for grabs. Pennsylvania happens to be Exhibit A in the battle for the Senate, with Republican incumbent Pat Toomey locked in a dead heat with Democratic challenger Katie McGinty.

We’ll also elect members of the House of Representatives.

Some Southeastern Pennsylvania races of note: In District 2, Democrat Dwight Evans is running against Republican James Jones. In District 6, Democrat Mike Parrish is running against incumbent Republican Ryan Costello. In District 7, Democrat Mary Ellen Balchunis is running against incumbent Republican Patrick Meehan. In District 8, Democrat Steve Santasiero is running against Republican Brian Fitzpatrick. In District 13, Democrat incumbent Brendan Boyle is running unopposed.

One thing is certain before any votes are counted on Tuesday — the next Pennsylvania attorney general will come from Montgomery County. Voters will elect a new attorney general to replace disgraced Democrat Kathleen Kane, who is prisonbound. Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, and state Sen. John C. Rafferty Jr., a Republican, are running to be the state’s next top law-enforcement officer.

There also are several ballot questions, the biggest being a curiously worded measure that would allow Pennsylvania judges to stay on the bench until they reach age 75, as opposed to the 70-yearold threshold today. We urge voters to reject that measure. Proponents have failed to provide adequate justification to change the state constitution to keep judges around longer.

But most of all we urge them to make a statement. The system is not “rigged.” It works fine. So long as voters don’t rig things themselves by not taking part in the process.