Adams County vote is refreshing

Published 10:00 pm Wednesday, August 29, 2007

With the unofficial results already tallied, political pundits are beginning to cull through the tealeaves at the bottom of the county election’s cup.

Peering into the remnants, searching for clues about what the election results say about us is a long-standing tradition.

We’re certainly no political science experts, but we saw some interesting things between the lines of Tuesday’s results.

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First, we were impressed at the number of residents who came out and voted. Sure, turnout is rarely at a level that seems high enough to correlate with the massively important privilege of voting.

But Tuesday’s turnout was solid, especially for a runoff election. That means the public is interested, highly interested, in our political process and in the future.

Political insiders often speak in the South often speak about the “black vote” and the “white vote,” but we were impressed by the “Adams County vote.”

When you stop and really consider the issues, Adams County residents have the same hopes about their elected officials. Generally, we all want them to be honest, trustworthy and do what’s in the best interest of the county, not themselves.

Skin color does not and should not weigh into the matter. The best candidates should earn our votes, not the most popular or the one who plays to a singular race.

The fact that Adams County residents appeared to have voted their minds not in a block based on how some group told them to vote is refreshing.

From our perspective, the tealeaves show a promising, bright future in our county, for every race, creed or gender.