It’s Election Day

Primary, judicial decisions to be made during primary

A friendly reminder that today is Election Day, an opportunity for registered voters to head to the polls, show their identification cards (credit or blame goes to our state Legislature and governor) and cast ballots for nominees in either the Democratic or Republican camps. The spring contest is also where the nonpartisan judicial elections and some school board elections are decided.

Congratulations to those who have taken time to evaluate the candidates and issues. Great job! If, however, you find yourself waking up this morning wondering who is on the ballot, well, you might just want to roll over and get some more sleep. Casting a ballot is every 18-year-old or older American’s right, but if you’re ignorant about exactly who the candidates are and what they’ve said about issues, we’re fine with you taking a pass. If you’ve relied only on dramatic television commercials that tend to tear down candidates rather than promote one, you haven’t done enough homework. We’re not saying you don’t have a right to vote. You most certainly do. But you haven’t done the work necessary to be an informed citizen.

There’s still time to do some research. Go to voterview.org, enter your county, name and date of birth and, voila, there are sample ballots for each party or for the nonpartisan judicial elections. See which races you’re expected to vote in, then start Googling or Yahooing or whatever other search-engine verb you want to insert. Depending on how many races are on your particular ballot, it won’t take long to pile up some information on candidates.

From our perspective based on interviews and our research, a few candidates earned our nod as far as recommendations go. They include:

House District 86, Democratic primary — Mark Kinion.

House District 90, Republican primary — Jana Della Rosa.

House District 91, Republican primary — Dan Douglas.

House District 93, Republican primary — Gan Nunnally.

Congress, 3rd District — Steve Womack. Congress, 4th District — Bruce Westerman.

State Supreme Court, Associate Justice, Position 3 — Kenneth Hixson.

Governor, Republican primary — Asa Hutchinson.

Secretary of state, Republican primary — Trevor Drown.

Sheriff, Benton County — Shawn Holloway.

This, of course, is just the beginning of the 2018 election season. Municipal candidates will file for office this summer and the Democratic and GOP nominees will, in many instances, face off against independents or Libertarians, and even a few write-ins, on Nov. 6. With months to go, there’s ample opportunity to learn about candidates and what they have to offer. Make good use of the opportunity.