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Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

Well, folks. We’re in the home stretch. 

We’ve almost endured another campaign season, and a week from now the general election will be over. Fingers crossed there won’t be any recounts and we can all move forward in the new year with the people who were elected to office.  

If you have not already taken advantage of the opportunity to vote, I encourage you to get out there on Tuesday and practice your civic duty. In this country we are blessed with the opportunity to choose our leaders, and we should always remember there are others out in the world who aren’t quite so lucky. 

Though there has been some mudslinging, I’m proud — and grateful — to see the local candidates themselves stick to relatively clean races compared to previous races. 

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like voters haven’t been inundated nearly as bad as in the last election. 

 When elections are calmer, I think it allows voters to better learn about the candidates, their goals and their backgrounds without being distracted by oftentimes negative, off-point and useless dialogue. 

Yes, there’s always the worry that not as many people will be involved without all the hype that’s present during a presidential election year, but at the same time, it’s kind of nice to not get a handful of fliers every day in the mail or to be inundated with attack ads every time you turn around on the television, radio or internet.

At the local level, we have candidates for school board, Albert Lea City Council and mayor, Freeborn County Board of Commissioners, Freeborn County sheriff, District 23A and 23B representative, District 23 senator and a handful of other state races, including governor. 

A lot is at stake, particularly because of redistricting, and at the state and potentially even the local level we are likely to see a lot of new faces be seated.

To all of the election officials who will be working on the day of the election, thank you for your dedication and willingness to serve. Many of you have put in dozens of years of service and should be recognized for all you do to keep the polls running in an orderly fashion. 

We will have a list of all of the polling locations in Saturday’s paper, and we hope you have been able to use our stories and Election Guide to educate yourself about the candidates.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Thanks to all those who are running for elected office and for the commitment you’ve shown toward making our community a better place to live.      

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Wednesday.