Mark your calendar and vote

To the editor:

We all mark our calendars with important dates — birthdays, appointments, holidays and reminders of one sort or another. I would like to ask that you mark your calendar now to remember to vote on Tuesday, Oct. 4. Not only are individuals running for elected offices for city councils, the borough assembly and the Matanuska-Susitna school board but there are important bond issues on the ballot that affect everyone in the borough as well.

Your vote is your voice in local elections and your voice is sorely needed. In response to the low percentage of registered voter turnouts in the past, voting venues have been expanded to include early voting at your local city hall as well as at the borough offices in Palmer. So if, for any reason, you do not feel you will be able to make it to the polls on Oct. 4 you can vote early at an office near you. Between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., there are election officials willing to help at local city halls in Palmer, Wasilla and Houston as well as at the local libraries in Trapper Creek and Talkeetna. And the office at the Division of Elections, 1700 E Bogard Rd, North Fork Professional bldg., Suite 102 is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for your convenience.

A couple of weeks ago this newspaper had an editorial that listed all the reasons to vote in particular stressing the fact that voting is a right, a privilege and a duty. Countless citizens before you have done all that they can to ensure that voting is a cornerstone of American life.

With privilege often comes responsibility, so please consider marking your calendar and exercising your right, your privilege and your voice by voting in this election.

Linda A. Combs

Palmer