Letter: Voting is pleasant even if candidates are not

Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006 | 7:32 a.m.

First, the good news. I voted Aug. 8 for the first time as a Nevada citizen. What a wonderful experience. The machines worked and were easy to use. The volunteer attendants were pleasant, helpful and knowledgeable. Quite a change from the punch cards I was used to all these years.

Second, the bad news. I've been reading columnist Jon Ralston, et al., exhorting me to vote on Election Day and not before since I will not have had adequate time to become familiar with all the candidates and their positions. I will be out of town on Aug. 15 and voting early was much easier than having to go through a proxy ballot process.

Additionally, the political nonsense being directed my way in the last week, including the "debates," provides little new or valuable information beyond that which allowed me to make a reasonably informed decision to begin with. The negative ads are particularly annoying and serve only to obfuscate any effort to become educated as to the merits/demerits of candidates.

Ralston's efforts in creating a debate forum that allowed questions and discussions of issues without the taint of scurrilous mudslinging, as well as his assessments in the Sun on the significance of media ads, are bright notes in this primary.

Finally, in light of the bitter divide in this country, thanks mostly to the ineptitude and avariciousness of our current political leaders, I too feel frustrated in not being able to identify any true statesmen and leaders that I could wholeheartedly support.

If it were not that we need government, I'd be happy to sit this election out myself while offering the following thought to all the candidates: A pox on all your houses!

Sidney H. Goodman, Las Vegas