Voting is a right given to all of us.

Many people have sacrificed their lives to give us this right. We are fortunate as a country that we are allowed to have this right. In many parts of the world, people aren’t allowed this right, which is very sad and unfortunate. Every election cycle, those seeking office work hard, offer their opinions and vision for our community, our state and our country. All who do so should be commended for putting themselves and their families out there and being part of the democratic process.

This is a very interesting year locally, on the state level and on the federal level. It is the midterm elections. Traditionally, the party in power loses its majority in one or both houses of Congress, but this year it could literally go one way or the other.

Locally, we have some very interesting races for city commission, circuit court clerk, constables, magistrate and sheriff. On the state level, there are several races in our coverage area for state representatives and state senators. …

These are all very important races, which is why we can’t urge people enough to get out and vote for the candidates of their choice. It’s irrelevant what one’s party affiliation is, as long as they get out and vote. It has been very disappointing the last several election cycles to see such low voter turnout at the polls. We editorialized about this after the 2016 elections.

We’ve said it once and we will say it again: No one has a right to complain about the outcomes of elections if they don’t practice their civic duty and get out and vote Tuesday.

We’re realistic enough to know that not everyone will go to the polls Tuesday, but we do hope that a lot more go to the polls than did in 2016. Elections have consequences, and if a candidate loses due to a few votes, then once again that falls on those who say their vote doesn’t matter and don’t bother to get out and spend 15 minutes to vote.

Bowling Green Daily News