EDITORIAL: Interest high in board election
Mar. 28—If the attendance for Stillwater Board of Education forums provides any kind of measuring stick for voter interest, then it seems Stillwater has a very engaged electorate.
The crowd during the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce candidate forum for Shelia Means and Gay Washington ended up standing-room only on the first floor of the Stillwater Public Library.
Early voting for the Ward 4 election will be today and Friday at the Payne County Election Board, while the polls open 7 a.m. and close 7 p.m. Tuesday.
School board elections usually do tend to draw a crowd, sometimes even more so than our municipal elections. And, it seems that candidates to council file unopposed more often than those for school board.
That's a good thing.
School board is an important position, and Stillwater is an education-minded city.
But, it probably doesn't go unnoticed that eyes are being drawn to the election because of increased political rhetoric around school administration.
Scrutiny is always warranted, but we often worry that too much of the concern stems from lightning rod issues.
We're glad that people have had outlets to voice their concerns. Had one of the candidates filed unopposed, we might not have a lot of opportunities to find out what people care about.
We know they care about their school system, they care how it is run and they care who has a hand in running it. They care about the children who attend Stillwater Public Schools.
That much is obvious.
We hope the high level of engagement we've seen during the campaign period will now make its way to the polls come election day.
