Actively participate

January starts not only a new year, but an important one. This November we will be voting for the president of this great nation. We have so many more freedoms in this country than any other, and you would think that enough citizens would care to keep these freedoms by voting for the people who have our well-being at heart and want to continue to have one nation under God. It seems that in the last presidential election there were only a little over 5,000 people on the active and inactive rolls for Pike County. That’s less than the population of Glenwood. The last election had only a little over 3,000 people voting; that’s why we have gambling in Hot Springs now. If citizens continue to ignore the issues concerning Arkansas and our nation, we will become a wet county and have bars and liquor stores all over.

If we don’t actively participate in our choice of government officials, we will lose our say in not only the way our state and country are run, but our personal lives as well. Wake up!

There are two important reasons to be sure you are registered to vote this year. You must be registered to vote by Feb. 3 because the early primary election will be in March instead of May this year. The second thing of note is that in the early primary election you may request a ballot for any of the parties, not just the one you may be affiliated with. If you cannot get to a polling place, you may ask for an absentee ballot at the county clerk’s office. They will be glad to send you one.

Let’s all get out and vote for a moral and godly country like we’ve had.

KRIS CLARKE

Glenwood