Compliments to the Portage County Board of Elections for running another smooth election Tuesday.
Well run elections are so much the norm in Portage County that we voters take them for granted, not realizing the difficulties occasionally experienced by our neighbors in more populous counties, such as Summit and Cuyahoga, where well run elections sometimes seem almost the welcome exceptions rather than the rule.
This was the first general election overseen by Linda Marcial, director of the Board of Elections, since the retirement of Glenda Enders, a Democrat, who with her colleagues on the Republican and Democratic sides of the aisle, especially Lois Enlow, the deputy director, have done such a good job. Mrs. Enlow is getting ready to retire, but she will be succeeded by Faith M. Lyon, a person the pros rate highly.
The secret to well run elections is an unwritten code that politicians on both sides of aisle have accepted in Portage County. It says that where the running of elections is concerned, the goal is honest, efficient elections, not the triumph of selfish politics. It is almost as if an invisible sign is posted at the Board of Elections, a message that in effect says to those who work in the office and those on the Board of Elections: "Park Your Politics at the Door!" The message on Election Day is the norm for those at the polls, too.
It all works in Portage, thank goodness, so well in fact that we too often forget to respond to those at the Board of Elections and our citizen poll workers with this grateful message: "Thanks for a Job Well Done, Folks!"