VOTE: Like your community depends on it

Vote. It’s easy, free, with amazing benefits. The truth is that for the past 22 years not even half of the eligible voters in Idaho made it to the polls or cast a ballot by mail. We citizens are simply turning our freedom, our county and our state over to less than a quarter of the eligible voting population to make all the critical decisions about our future. North Idaho in particular exemplifies that.

About 10 years ago, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee was taken over by a band of extremists. Since then, the Republican party locally has made every election in Kootenai County partisan. All local boards, water, school, roads and hospital, have become partisan, with Republican extremists creating their own slate of candidates. There is no attempt to find competent people, only people who agree with the central committee.

Assessor candidate Bela Kovacs is a clear example of how sad and costly that has been. You can see their work in the planned takeover and privatization of North Idaho College. The next step will be the privatization of all the public schools, colleges and universities, first locally and then in the state. Rule by one extreme group of one party is the absolute enemy of democracy, especially a group with a destructive agenda.

Our only reasonable response is to vote so we can prevent the loss of our vote and save our democracy. Vote like your community depends on it because it does.

RICHARD KOHLES

Hayden