To our local politicians:

I know I cannot begin to imagine what campaigning is like, and I honor the work that you do. I would like to respectfully ask that you re-think something that I believe many others are also in agreement about.

It is disheartening each day, the last few weeks before election day, to find our mailboxes stuffed with election propaganda material. Sadly to say, it all goes immediately into recycling without our ever looking at it. This is because we have already educated ourselves and know who we plan to vote for far ahead of voting time, and in fact, we have generally actually voted by the time most of the dreaded paperwork arrives.

I am not alone in feeling frustrated with this. In the past couple of weeks I’ve asked a dozen or so friends and neighbors what they think about this, and their responses mainly range from “GRRRR!!” and “UGGH!!!” to eye-rolling and things that aren’t fit to print here, often followed by a lengthy rant. It was unanimous amongst those I spoke with that these paper election materials are a huge waste of resources and money, and we all dump them without reading them.

For those I’m already going to vote for, I would respect and like you even better if you set an example of support for the environment, and chose to spend your money in better ways (consider donating the money you would have spent on paper campaign materials to Good Cheer, for example). If you must send out propaganda, please do it all via email, so that I can quickly delete it and not harm trees in the process. Truly, it’s annoying in my e-mail box, too, but not nearly as much as the paper stuff).

Please re-think all this before the next elections roll around. Thanks so much for listening,

Sue Averett

Freeland