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Some of us have already cast our ballots for the upcoming election. Others will do so in the coming weeks. And about 30-40% of voters will wait until Election Day itself.

Whenever you do vote, please remember to gather all the information you can on the candidates. If you just look at Facebook posts and mailers, then you are basing most of your decisions on propaganda. That is a lousy way to choose who to vote for.

Voters should research whether the candidate ever served on a board of a nonprofit. Did they have an appointment to a government advisory board? How about being a congregant of a church or temple? Are they a Rotarian, Kiwanian, or Elk? Do they volunteer at a pantry or with any community organization? If the answer is no that should be a warning that maybe they want to be elected for their best interest and not the community’s.

It looks to me that there are some candidates who have given nothing to their town or county and have then decided they want to be our leaders. But they have spent no time understanding anything about the citizens or the issues. They live in a cocoon, thinking they have the answers but never really do.  Local elected officials are servant leaders.

There are three different candidate informational articles in this edition. Martin County Taxpayers Association has reprinted their candidate questionnaire for BOCC District 2 and 4. There are also the candidate statements they gave to Friends & Neighbors that we are once again reprinting. Lastly there is my selection of who I am voting for in the upcoming election.

In this week’s edition we have two articles about Stuart Ballfields and Boss Collins’ involvement with perhaps hatching an opportunity to lease them to travel leagues. There is an article about how Boss Collins’ court case against his opponent, Susan O’Rourke, and Supervisor of Elections, Vicki Davis, was dismissed by Judge Robie in less than an hour. However, it did cost a substantial amount of taxpayer dollars for Davis to defend her office.

At their recent meetings, the BOCC, Sewall’s Point, Stuart, Martin County School Board, and Ocean Breeze voted on the Maximum Tax Rate that goes on TRIM Notices. We have provided those figures to you. We have our usual columnists including Dr. Michele, the Humane Society, House of Hope and Andy Noble.

Remember many of our articles appear on Friends & Neighbors Facebook page between editions.  Make us one of your regular visits when online. You can also sign up for our Medium and Martin Moments articles so that you can be the first to read what is happening in your community.

So, sit back, have another cup of coffee and dig into this morning’s read.

Have a great Sunday Morning!