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Voters, congratulate yourselves

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The race for president this year may not have turned out like a lot of folks wanted it to, yet we can clearly identify some big winners in the year’s general election — and the June primaries for that fact.

They were the voters.

The winners include the thousands of people who voted early and on voting day in McKinley and Cibola counties. For some, it meant standing in line for a while.

Forget for a minute that Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the general election. The mere fact that folks around McKinley and Cibola exercised their civic duty is a cause for celebration. That’s the stuff that an honest and functioning democracy is made of.

Let’s face it: The 2016 presidential campaign featured stuff that had to be endured, not followed. It was Trump calling Mexicans rapists and criminals and Clinton dodging questions about emails and past business dealings. On both sides, it got uglier and uglier as time went on, even afterward to the point where demonstrations continue to take place around the country in protest of the Trump triumph.

That’s why the hope for tomorrow rests with an engaged and informed electorate. If enough citizens demand that their public officials genuinely work for the common good, there’s hope for the future.

Choosing a president is very important, of course. But the person who sits in the Oval Office doesn’t raise or lower local property taxes or enact laws in the New Mexico Legislature. School boards directly touch lives. So do city councils and county commissions.

When people take part in elections, as they did Nov. 8, it’s always a good day for democracy.

By Bernie Dotson