In this year of extraordinary yet uncertain circumstances, one thing is going to happen: an election on Nov. 3.

With that fact in mind and in an otherwise cloudy future, as a member of the Rowan County Board of Elections, I respectfully request the submitted budget presented by the director of the board be approved in its totality.

Any cut to the proposed budget would endanger our electoral  process. As a board member, I feel it is my duty to provide the citizens of Rowan County the most access available to a free and unsuppressed election. It is the responsibility of the Board of Elections to maintain safe and secure voting sites. It is the responsibility of the Board of Elections to allow every registered voter in Rowan an opportunity to express their voice in how the future will be governed.

It is the responsibility of the Board of Elections to offer all ways possible for a citizen to do their civic duty, vote. And it is the responsibility of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners to fund this right of democracy.

Quoting Thomas Paine, ”The right to vote for representatives is the primary right by which other rights are protected.”

Quoting Dan Rather, “Those who seek to suppress voting today are either ignorant of the history or are, as I suspect is more often the case, malevolently choosing to ignore it.”

— George W. Benson

Salisbury