By Bobby Tingle

Early voting in Orange County has been impressive so far. On day one, Tuesday, February 16, nearly 1,300 voters cast their ballots. One thousand voted in the Republican Primary with over 200 voting in the Democrat Primary. Day two and three following opening day showed lower numbers but still impressive. A little more than 2,400 have voted so far as Republicans while on the Democrat side just under 500 have performed their duty.

With close to 3,000 voting in the first three days one can only hope the turnout will be strong during the entire early voting period. The icing on the cake will be a strong finish the day of the election, Tuesday, March 1.

There is no doubt that the turnout is fueled by national politics. You have to avoid the news completely to not know there is a race to pick the candidates for President of the United States. Hilary, Bernie, Donald, Ted, Marco to name a few are becoming household names. Your choice among these and their other competitors may lure you to the polls. I hope so.

While there, carefully consider between Deborah Mitchell and Don Brown. They are your two choices if you vote on the Democrat side. If you don’t know who they are then do some research. Whoever wins will have a local impact on your future choices, if you stay on the Democrat side.

The choices increase dramatically if you vote as a Republican. No, I don’t mean the plethora of candidates seeking the nomination to run for POTUS. At one time there were sixteen, I believe. Several have dropped out. Vote for one for sure. But the important races are the local ones.

There are seven local races that are contested. And the winner of these races will be the winner in November because no local Democrat is running. Unless there is a runoff, which is likely in one of the local races, you will miss out if you don’t go now to vote.

Gratefully the turnout is pretty good so far it seems. Let’s hope the turnout is as much about the locals as the nationals. Let’s also hope the turnout remains strong. Stay tuned. We will continue to keep you in the know. Next week we will make some endorsements for several races.

Let us know what you think. See you at the polls.

 

Bobby Tingle is publisher of The Orange Leader. He can be reached at bobby.tingle@orangeleader.com