Everybody must do their part during 2013 election

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Nomination Day has come and gone, with all the official candidates for each separate election having been announced on Monday at noon.

With new faces in the running, each for Horizon School Division, for the Municipal District of Taber, and for the Town of Taber, residents of each area have multiple decisions of who they would like to represent them.

The last time the decision was made was in 2010, and the councils, and board, elected are the ones a person sees at the table today.

For the better part of three years, these elected officials have been making the call in regards to the betterment of the areas they serve, and for the better part of three years people have been complaining about the elected officials.

From motions turned down to lack of response, and everything in between, at one point or another, residents found something to be unhappy with, commenting on how they want to see change, or need change, in the current councils.

Every person has a right to their opinion, but a community needs the vote of each citizen to be represented to the best of its ability.

People look for change, but when it comes down to the actual day to enact change these same people cannot be bothered.

They work and cannot get to the polls, they forget, or they find some other excuse as to why they didn’t make the journey to the poll station.

They nod their head to those who become elected, but give or take a year and the complaints rise up again, with exclamations of, “I cannot believe this person was the one elected”.

With each and every vote an important part of each individual election, people have to step up and show their investment in their community.

A complaint is not valid if a person didn’t earn the right to complain, marking that small black “x” on the long list of candidates.

But it also comes around, going beyond a small letter on the ballot.

There are those that say they could do the job better, and it is these whose names should show up on Nomination Day.

Unfortunately, only a few brave souls bring their names forward and the rest will stay at home, not wanting to step up, but wanting change all the same.

Although nominations have officially been cast and the names announced are the ones people will have to choose from on Oct. 21, it doesn’t mean there aren’t still ways to help, to bring that change everybody talks about.

Anything a person wants to know about the elections can be found online, or through each municipality’s head office or take a look at the features of candidates in local newspapers

Be the change, participate in the change, and give the complaints so easily ready on your lips some validity.

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