It is no exaggeration to say the last several months leading up to Tuesday’s monumental presidential election have been among the most tumultuous and divisive times in recent memory.
With the race for the oval office between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton light on actual policy and saturated with emotionally charged personal attacks, tensions between the two candidates’ supporters have been similarly fraught, with name calling and even outright violence an all-too-common occurrence this election cycle.
This trend will sadly continue even following Trump’s improbable victory Tuesday, as it appears the divide between the left and right in this country continues to widen.
However, one thing that voters across both sides of this political Grand Canyon can agree upon is that high voter turnouts like those seen Tuesday are a great thing for the health of our democracy.
Cass County, in particular, experienced a surge in voter turnout during Election Day. According to unofficial results from Electionmagic.com, around 57 percent of all registered county voters visited the ballot box, a great boost over the relatively lukewarm numbers seen during the presidential primary in March and the outright poor turnout for the state primary in August. While slightly down from the massive turnout seen during the 2008 presidential election, anytime a majority of registered voters choose to exercise their most sacred rights is something well worth celebrating.
While it was the pivotal presidential race driving county residents to polls Tuesday, thankfully many voters chose to focus their attention down the ballot as well.
In particular, the race between the two candidates for Cass County Circuit Court judge was hotly contested, with Niles’ Mark Herman defeating Cassopolis’ Scott Teter by less than 150 votes to win the judgeship. In fact, in the Marcellus voting district, Herman received just a single vote more than his opponent — demonstrating the time old adage that every vote truly matters.
While of course it is unrealistic to assume county voters will continue to turn out in massive numbers until the next presidential contest in four years, hopefully Tuesday marks at least a foundation with which voter turnout numbers can grow during midterm elections.
No matter how you feel about the race for the White House, a democracy requires the voice of as many of its citizens as possible to operate. We hope those who voted this week continue to do so in the future, and those that continue to watch on the sideline find the will to finally decide to add their voice to the mix the next go around.

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of General Manager Ambrosia Neldon and editors Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.