Editorial

Election filing opens Tuesday

Saturday, December 4, 2021

If you haven’t noticed, the dates to file for municipal, school board, fire district and other political subdivisions have changed.

After many years of having until late January to file, candidates now have only until Dec. 28. The start time has moved up, to Dec. 7, but the overall filing time is still two weeks shorter, according to the Missouri Secretary of State.

This was done with the passage of House Bill 271, and is supposed to make the election process smoother for county clerks, who have deadlines to meet in order to get ballots printed.

We hope that anyone out there thinking about running for an elected position will get in and sign up early.

It’s important to have strong candidates to serve on the boards that make so many important decisions in our communities.

From the Board of Trustees at Three Rivers College to the Board of Directors at Public Water District #1, and all of the other groups, those elected will manage our tax dollars and oversee the operations of our critical infrastructure.

We have all seen, too often, what poor government management can lead to.

So if you are thinking about running, please get out and sign up by Dec. 28.

To everyone who does run, thank you for helping make our communities strong by volunteering your time for positions that can all too often be thankless.

And to all of readers, please help us honor the work done by these people by joining us in voting in the April 5 election.

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