By the time our Star Herald subscribers read this, the 2024 general election will be in the books, and voters will be acclimating to results and their expected impact.
As with every election, we can participate, but we can’t control outcomes. What we can control is how we respond to those outcomes.
Will we trust our free and fair elections? Will we respect our local elections officials if the results aren’t what we were hoping?
Or will we cry foul without evidence of foul play?
In all elections there are winners and losers, and as in life, how we accept defeat is a major indicator of character.
The events of Jan. 6 are a blight on our nation’s history. Also shameful are harassment of elections officials and assumptions of “rigged elections” if our candidates don’t win.
It’s easy to get caught up in the frenzied social media accusations, mostly fed by foreign adversaries attempting to divide our nation.
But we in Rock County are better than this — or at least we should be.
Online discussions of our local elections were trending dark, but we are not just Facebook friends.
We are real life friends. We see each other on the street, in the grocery store, in church and at school events.
There were no bad candidates — or bad people — on our local ballots.
There were candidates we hoped would win, but if they didn’t, we are still left with local elected officials who want what’s best for our communities.
It would behoove all of us to embrace the winning candidates and turn some of our pre-election Facebook fervor into post-election action to do what’s best for our communities.
We’re talking about real-life, in-person community engagement, such as volunteering and supporting local causes that help the most vulnerable among us.
Because, as we know, we all do better when we all do better, and that’s something Rock County has done better than anywhere else for longer than any of us can remember.
And ultimately, a community all pulling together for positive outcomes is a bigger win than any landslide election victory, no matter who we’re voting for.
— Lori Sorenson, editor
