Your community needs you

Do you have what it takes to be a public servant?

Next week—May 12—marks the start of the filing period for the 2022 Primary Election. In recent elections, the Saratoga Sun has encouraged our readers to head to the polls in both primary and general elections to cast their votes. What should be equally stressed is the need for people to run for those offices in the first place, especially at the local level.

After all, there could be a great turnout of voters but it means little if there is nobody to vote for.

Just two years ago, during the 2020 election, the Town of Medicine Bow was close to finding out what would happen if there weren’t enough people on their town council. One potential consideration was dissolving the municipality and becoming part of unincorporated Carbon County. Fortunately, Medicine Bow now has a full governing body.

Medicine Bow wasn’t the only town with a lack of candidates. Hanna and Riverside, also, had more seats than candidates.

This year, the municipalities of Saratoga, Riverside, Elk Mountain and Sinclair have a total of four seats—out of five—which will appear on the ballot. A four-year mayoral seat and two four-year council seats will be joined by a two-year unexpired council seat. In some cases—such as Saratoga—most of the current seat holders have no intention of running for re-election

We at the Saratoga Sun believe we cannot overstate the importance of running for public office and becoming a public servant. Nearly 240 years ago, three simple words began the preamble to the United States Constitution; “We the People”. In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, described our government as one “of the people, by the people, for the people”. Both of these phrases, though simple, still hold great power today.

Though the Founding Fathers established our country as a Republic, it is also a representative democracy. Through the democratic process of voting, we select those we believe will best represent us at the local, state and national level. If there is nobody to vote for, then how can one be represented?

As a resident of your town—whether young or old, multigenerational or recently arrived—if you want to see change you have to be the one to initiate that change. If you’ve been waiting for a sign if now is your time, consider this your sign. We at the Saratoga Sun encourage anyone who has called for change in their local communities, anyone who has briefly considered a run for local office, anyone who is just interested in serving their communities, to seize this moment. While voting is the most important thing a person can do, for it to be effective we need candidates.

Don’t wait too long to make your decision. 

While the filing period opens May 12, it closes at 5 p.m. on May 27. If you do decide to run for office, contact us here at the Saratoga Sun and we can work with you to get your name out there before the primary election on August 16.

 

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