Importance of informed voter engagement

Michael Hudson

Letter to the Editor

Durango Herald

Sunday, Oct 15, 2023 12:45 AM

Restore the Balance is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization with branches in Mesa, Delta and La Plata counties. The purpose of the organization is to counter the growing division and extremism in our political process, and to restore a culture of civility and cooperation across party lines in campaigns and governing.

Our democracy depends on informed voter participation and candidate willingness to share positions on relevant issues. The La Plata branch embarked on its first effort at nonpartisan voter education and participation by distributing questionnaires to candidates for the Bayfield and Ignacio school boards. The RTB–La Plata Steering Committee convened a six-member subcommittee to develop the questionnaire.

Ignacio candidates, Ross Melton and Gina Schulz, and Bayfield candidate Molly Orendorff offered, in our opinion, strong positive responses and we appreciate their replies. The full responses and our evaluations are posted on our website https://www.restorethebalance.org/rtbnewsandinformation

We believe there is a reluctance to answer nonpartisan questionnaires. That is influenced, in part, by the state of national political dialogue, where extremism and lack of civility is on full display. The nonpartisan League of Women Voters La Plata County received a similarly small number of responses to its survey of school board candidates; those results are available at VOTE411.org.

We look forward to a broader candidate evaluation process during the 2024 primary and general elections. This experience demonstrates the critical importance of informed voter engagement in our democratic process and the support across party lines of RTB principles.

Michael Hudson

Durango

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