The people were heard
Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves—and the only way they could do this is by not voting. — Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Elections are decided by those who show up, not those who stay away.
Republican voters in this month's primary election chose their candidate to fill a county commission seat opening in January.
Because the other major political party failed to field a candidate for the position, the primary winner, Libby Mayor Tony Berget, is all but assured of victory in November's general election.
Now there's grumbling among the ranks. Not everyone is pleased with the outcome of the June 2 balloting.
It's true, Berget's margin of victory was a relatively slim one, but we see that more and more in elections around the state and beyond.
Yet it is a victory nonetheless. And in fact, no one should be surprised by the narrow margin separating the winner and the runner-up.
Six candidates entered this race, most of whom campaigned hard for the job. With that unusual number of choices for a quality candidate, voters naturally split the vote.
In some sense, that makes a 44-vote margin all the more — not less — convincing.
Unexpectedly, Berget's victory was further bolstered by the other side, which suggests that he can expect more support come November.
All six of the Republican candidates got write-in votes from their Democratic counterparts who had no candidate of their own to vote for.
But Berget far outdistanced his competitors in that field.
Discontent with the primary result is fueling talk of a write-in campaign.
It's fine, even admirable, for any candidate to launch so daunting a task as waging a write-in campaign. Difficult logistically and otherwise, they seldom succeed.
But the contention that the voice of the people hasn't been heard is specious.
Indeed, voters stayed home on election day. Though dangerous, it's their choice, and their vote did not count. What matters is that the voice of those who did show up to vote was heard.