Decision time

It’s time for voters to do their thing

On Tuesday — Election Day in the United States — voters of this nation will follow in the footsteps of the great Americans who have preceded us.

We’ll pick the winners after a long-lasting political season. The others on the ballot might come back for some future campaign effort, but on Tuesday, more candidates will lose than will win. Despite what one particular past candidate/president suggested, this doesn’t make them losers. Rather, it casts them in the role described by Theodore Roosevelt when he credited the person “in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause …”

There are no losers — at least not in the qualitative way Donald Trump spews the term — in democracy. Here in Northwest Arkansas and across the 50 states, elections are the mechanism by which “we, the people” keep our hands on the steering wheel. And it would do more of us some good if we remembered we’re all along for the same ride, whether it reaches its destination or plummets into a ravine.

We’re told, most recently by reporting by The Associated Press last week, that voters who intend to cast ballots in this election had better be on their toes. Expect some shenanigans, the AP story suggested. For example, folks with smartphones (and there are a lot of them) might receive anonymous messages warning them to stay away from the polls.

Trickery in politics isn’t new. Misinformation isn’t either, but now just about everyone with an idea has access to a megaphone. In some ways, that’s healthy free speech. In others, it’s an opportunity for manipulative mayhem.

So be on the lookout, dear voter. If someone tries the ol’ trick of saying Republicans vote on Tuesday, Democrats on Wednesday, recognize the skulduggery. If you receive a mailer on Monday that makes outrageous claims against a candidate, it’s worth asking why that mailer is coming so late in the process, when candidates have virtually no chance to respond.

And let’s dispense with the idea that elections are covered up in fraud and deceit among election officials. It’s simply not true. Donald Trump’s own attorney general has said so. John Thurston, Arkansas’ Republican secretary of state, is the state’s chief election official, although the voting and counting processes are actually don on a county-by-county basis.

Of Arkansas’ election in 2020, Thurston has declared it was “one of the most secure and safe elections in state history.”

Our system is full of checks and balances, not the least of which is the fact that the actual collection of votes and the counting process is done on a county-by-county basis, overseen by election commissions with people from both parties as members.

Arkansas’ elections have had their hiccups. You can’t conduct a process as large and complex as voting across 75 counties without a few of them, but the process is prepared for it.

There are, from time to time, real and unethical behaviors designed to manipulate people’s votes. Note, for example, last week’s reported promotions by two Arkansas medical marijuana dispensaries offering $10 in store credit and a chance to win a 55-inch television for those who used social media to declare they voted for the amendment to legalize adult, recreational-use marijuana in the state.

But Arkansas elections — the collection and counting of the votes — have a significant history of credibility, with processes in place to deal with whatever glitches come along.

Every election is declared by someone to be the “most consequential election in American history” or “of this era.” Despite its obvious hyperbolic nature, the statement carries weight because every election in American history is significant. They all determine the path ahead for these United States of America and its people.

The Secretary of State’s Office has predicted more than 916,000 Arkansas voters will cast their ballots by the time the polls close and all the counting is done. Many have already voted, so thank you. But there’s also no harm in Arkansans trying to prove state officials wrong. If you’re registered, go vote after studying what’s on the ballot. Beyond the candidates, there are important issues to be decided. Four ballot issues — from one affecting the balance of powers in state government to one legalizing recreational marijuana — will be considered statewide. Check out the neutral content explaining them from the University of Arkansas Extension Service’s 2022 Voter Guide for Arkansas Ballot Issues at https://www.uaex.uada.edu/ballot.

As a reminder, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has previously offered our thoughts about these ballot issues on this editorial page, and it’s pretty simple. We recommend a vote “against” all four of them. Arkansans either don’t need them or, if they do, future constitutional amendment proposals can be done in a much more thorough and thoughtful fashion.

We, naturally, also recommend https://www.nwaonline.com/nwavote as a voter resource for a wide range of stories on races and ballot issues.

Voters in Benton and Washington counties will consider public officials’ proposals to establish new sales taxes to expand their jails. Visit https://www.nwaonline.com/podcast and scroll through this newspaper’s variety of offerings to find three Speaking of Arkansas podcast episodes — one on Benton County’s proposal, one on Washington County’s and one featuring Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition members arguing against both expansions.

Madison County, too, will ask voters for a sales tax to build a jail, something they lack at the moment.

As for individual races, they are plentiful across Northwest Arkansas, from city councils to quorum courts and from the Legislature to state and federal offices. There are too many for us to get into in this space today, but one thought we’ve had rolling around in our heads this election season: Would you rather have, in public office, an honest person with whom you don’t always agree or a person with whom you almost always agree but can’t trust?

A lot more matters than whether a candidate has a “D” or an “R” beside his or her name.