The results were much as expected: only 23 percent of Pike County’s registered voters cast ballots in Tuesday’s primary elections.

The reason?

"It was too hot."

"It rained."

"There weren’t any local races on the ballot."

"I don’t know who to vote for."

"I don’t

like any of ’em anyway."

The result?

The democratic process that serves our country was shortchanged.

And that’s disappointing.

Voting is both a right and a responsibility for Americans. We have the right to cast ballots in an election, voicing our opinion on who should lead our county; our state; and our country. We can say "yes, we want to abolish the office of constable" or "yes, we want to set aside education funding."

Or we can remain silent, as the more than 12,000 Pike

County voters chose to do on Tuesday.

Most important, we have the responsibility to speak up and speak out with our votes. We must take an active role in our government and that role starts by casting ballots

We hope that more Pike County residents and more Alabamians will take part in the general election in November.

We say thanks to each of you who made the time to vote on Tuesday. To the rest, we challenge you to make that time in November and to be a part of our democratic process.

 

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