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FROM STAFF REPORTS / Editorial

Voter intimidation is real. Whether it comes from someone you’ve never met on social media or someone living in your very home, every day it seems there is someone new telling us how we are wrong for who we are voting for or what party we are aligning with.

We often degrade people based on their political views if they don’t align with our own by bashing their beliefs and their decision. But in particular, we too often discount the mind of the undecided voter and belittle them with our own thoughts and lecture them on why they should vote a certain way.

For many of us, we feel like we are obligated to make sure the undecided voter joins our side. It’s like we’re trying to persuade Anakin Skywalker to follow the Jedi, otherwise, he’ll become Darth Vader.

But the realistic aspect is that we are all capable of making our own decisions and there needs to be more faith in that.

Political parties already do enough to divide us, something that has the founding fathers rolling over in their graves, so as we near the 2020 General Election on Nov. 3, let’s each do our part to avoid voter intimidation.

As a newspaper, we often see many other news organizations endorse a candidate, and that’s something we will never do in any election outside of guest columns or candidate advertising.

We stand firm in believing that it is your choice and each voter has the right to research the facts and make up their own mind, especially since our job is to show no bias.

Our message is to not only encourage you to do your own research through reputable sources and tune out the other noise, but also to simply vote.

Any election is special, and while there was a low turnout for local elections this year, we are hopeful you will take this opportunity to vote for whatever candidate you feel is best for office in the Nov. 3 General Election.

It truly is one of the greatest freedoms we get as a country, but it feels like we often take the opportunity for granted.

We get the opportunity to do our own research, make an informed decision and actually vote for who we want to run this country. Many don’t get that luxury in this world.

So as you come across others during the next few weeks, don’t share opinions, share facts and encourage others to do research to determine who they should vote for.

Think about what this country needs to look like moving forward on issues that are most important to you.