County transparent in election process

It makes me so proud to watch our democracy in action.

Last Tuesday on election night, the lower courtroom at the Sanders County Courthouse was a flurry of activity. But it wasn’t the chaos and mayhem that some believe is happening with elections in our country. It was organized. Qualified, trained people worked together to resolve issues on ballots. People with conservative views and liberal views and those who are somewhere in the middle worked with the county elections staff late into the night until they made sure every ballot was accounted for.

Our local elections are extremely secure and extremely accurate. Sure, there are other parts of the country that struggle with elections. But having witnessed our local elections at nearly every stage for several years now, I’ve seen how hard our local staff works to ensure accurate counts.

When I first bought The Ledger and started showing up to observe election tabulation, there would maybe be two or three spectators. Last Tuesday, more than a dozen people were in the room at various stages of the process. It was encouraging to see people get involved.

There’s another way you can get involved in the election process - become an election judge. Dozens of residents are trained as judges and put in long hours to help on Election Day. The average age of election judges in Sanders County is at least 70. I appreciate every one of those people who stayed up all night Tuesday to help count and reconcile ballots. While every one of these judges is more than capable, it would be great to see the next generation get involved and become trained as election judges. I know not just 70-year-olds care about the future of our county. Help ensure our elections stay accurate by getting more involved in the process.

The anticipation at the courthouse on Election Day was similar to youngsters at Christmas. No one got a lot of sleep that night. I’m thankful for everyone involved.

— Annie Wooden