Wells resident Julie Seedorf’s column appears every Monday. Send email to her at hermionyvidaliabooks@gmail.com.

It’s Halloween today and those who have children are preparing for a rousing night of Halloween fun. These days adults costume up too. This year, Halloween isn’t the only thing on our minds or in the news. Of course I am referring to the election coming up Nov. 8.

For the first time I chose to go to the forum our community Chamber of Commerce held for the candidates of my community and our county. I almost didn’t go because I am tired of all the headlines that have been nonstop in the media today, and I am at the point where I ignore much of it so there is semblance of peace in my life. I decided to attend the forum since I should know what is going on in our community and district. I had an idea who my choices were. I am not strictly a Democrat or a Republican; I vote for the person.

It was a refreshing evening. The candidates for my county for state senator, state representative, county board, city council and school board were impressive. There was no name calling, in fact, they complimented their opponent, they shook hands and they also agreed on a few things. It was a breath of fresh air in an ugly race.

One of the qualities that struck me about everyone was honesty. I felt the people on the stage, though having different viewpoints, were honest people. They answered the questions, and if they didn’t know the answer, they admitted it. None of them tried to snow us with the gift of gab so they could sidestep the question. Even with the state Senate candidate and state representatives, I felt they would never be the people slaying others on the news.

I wondered if their integrity was because they served rural areas and haven’t been corrupted by big-city politics. Perhaps my view of big city politicians is wrong and they aren’t corrupt, but because they live in more of a glass world they are presented in a way that leads us to mistrust them. I came away from the forum glad I had taken the time to know more about my choices. I felt each and every one of them, no matter their party affiliation, would represent us well and we would have pride in their behavior.

Did the forum change my mind about my preconceived voting decisions? Yes, I changed my mind on two candidates because of their answers and their ideas.

It is hard today to weed out facts from fiction in our elections. My views on my local candidates weren’t skewed by things I read on Facebook or on other social media sites. I didn’t have to sift through wordiness and accusations to get to the truth and the issues. Because of this I can make a decision on the merit of the facts.

Seeing these fine people at the local level gave me hope again in a system being controlled by unscrupulous websites and media outlets. It renewed my faith because I saw honest people on that stage. And yes, I do know some of them. That didn’t sway how I felt. When one of the candidates said they stay until they get the job done and challenged those at the state level to do the same, I knew there have to be others out there just like him, and that gives me hope for our future.