Big Day nearly here at last

If the pitchfork-wielding villagers didn’t come for you last night — BOO! — they probably won’t be on the political prowl Tuesday night.

Or Wednesday.

Most prognosticators don’t think the question of who won the U.S. presidency will be stamped in stone until, well, Jan. 19? Inauguration day is Jan. 20, so we’d better have it figured out by then.

In the meantime, tens of thousands of Kootenai Countians have already voted. Tens of thousands more will show up at the polls Tuesday and help decide who will be our president, who will serve on the Kootenai-Shoshone Soil and Water Conservation District board and everything in between.

For that final wave of citizens armed with ballots and ball-point pens, we’ve got something for you in today’s paper. It’s the third — and final — Kootenai County Voters’ Guide of this election season.

Each version of the guide has had additions. In this one, we’ve included information on the eight people seeking four supervisor seats on the soil and water conservation board — an entity that many of us weren’t even aware of before the campaigning started with eight people seeking half as many seats.

This final guide also has an interesting article for and about young voters. Do you realize that millennials (1981-1996) now match baby boomers as the largest share of the electorate? Let’s see what impact they have on results locally and nationally.

The print version of the voters’ guide has a mate, by the way. Led by Publisher Clint Schroeder, The Press conducted and posted interviews with many of the candidates for local, state and even federal offices. Clint also navigated the fascinating and at times treacherous paths of virtual town halls. All of it is posted on cdapress.com, so you can not only read about the candidates, but see and hear them, too.

As Mr. Schroeder (and candidates) made very clear throughout the interviews, this is a critical time in history which deserves massive voter participation to shape the future. But votes cast without knowledge of the candidates, their backgrounds and positions are a disservice to society, and a weak excuse for exercising one’s rights as an American citizen.

All votes matter. Informed votes are priceless.