Get informed, then vote

Many voters dread it, but the time has come to wake up and smell the candidates to figure out who deserves your vote. The Daily Inter Lake aims to help inform you as you make your decisions.

Early voting starts May 7, so the newspaper is getting a jump on the contested and in some cases multi-candidate races that will be decided in the June 5 primary election. The paper last week published pre-primary stories on the five Republican candidates running for the District 3 county commission seat. Next week, there will be more stories on six Republicans running for the District 1 county commission seat.

Starting Monday, the paper will also start publishing stories on five contested legislative races in the Flathead Valley. Three Republicans are squaring off for Senate District 2, two Republicans are running against each other in Senate District 3, two Democrats are vying for House District 4, and two Republicans are in the House District 9 primary.

There will be ongoing coverage of the busy Republican gubernatorial primary race. The Inter Lake is among the sponsors hosting a debate Wednesday among the Republican candidates at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center. Scheduled to attend are Rick Hill, Neil Livingstone, Jim Lynch, Ken Miller and Corey Stapleton.

There are also some important judicial races to be decided.

There are two contested races for Flathead County District Court judge positions, one with three candidates and the other with two candidates.

In the education arena, five local school districts are seeking special levy approval, including the Kalispell district’s request for a $4 million building reserve.

And three people are running for a seat on the Flathead Valley Community College board of trustees.

It’s time do some homework, and we are doing ours. By the way, you will be able to find all of our election coverage archived on the Internet at www.dailyinterlake.com/news/local_elections/