You may have noticed your radio and television taking a political slant of late. It’s hard to ignore. This person says this, that person says that. They are right, your person is wrong; they are wrong, your person is right. Election season 2022 is upon us, and the ballot box awaits our decisions come Nov. 8. It’s up to us to decide what steps we take as a local community and as a state and a nation to move forward together.

We can take the barrage of unrequested mailbox surprises as warnings of things we don’t wish to come, or we can take them as a guiding compass for where we prefer to put our communal trust for the next few years. It’s not easy. But it is. Our basic duty as citizens is to at least pay attention. There are those who prefer to avoid the entire process, while others find it an indispensable obligation. Some report it can be difficult to get out to vote. For many of our elderly citizens, or for those without easy transportation to a poll site, it can be a bit of a puzzle to be solved. Early voting is a simple solution in these cases. For many, it’s just a matter of taking a little time and getting to ones’ polling station on the scheduled day to register an official opinion.

We would all do well to do our research and weigh in. Who should represent us on the City Council? Who should represent us at the state and federal level? Every rung up from the local level adds a layer of potential confusion, but the importance weighs more heavily. Our decisions have outcomes. If we choose not to decide, the outcomes become arbitrary, and soon find their way out of our hands.

It is important to tune in, pay attention, and pick your brand.

Council member Justin Olsen suggested everyone check on their voter registration status, and also promoted early voting.

“It’s very easy. Put ‘vote411.org’ into any web browser. You can search to find out if you’re registered, and where your polling place is. You can look at sample ballots. Early voting starts Sept. 23, and you’ll be able to vote early up through Nov. 7. If you’re going to vote early here in the city of Cottage Grove, you can just go down the road to the Washington County self-service center, get a ballot, register if you’re not registered, and you can vote early. One advantage to voting early, other than you don’t have to wait in line on election day, is once you’ve voted, your name comes off all of the lists that the candidates use to send direct mail to. So you won’t get all of that mail in your mailbox once you vote. So that’s another advantage, in case you weren’t aware of it. I want to encourage everybody to cast a ballot. The most important thing we can do as citizens of this great nation is to exercise our right to cast a ballot and vote; every election, every time. It’s very important,” said Olsen.

Olsen added, “If you’d like to learn more about the candidates running for these seats, it’s available at www.swctc. com.”