Good precinct committee officers are vital

In response to the letter of July 21, 2014 regarding Grant County precinct committee officers.

I would like to offer the following clarification of exactly why good, conscientious precinct committee officers are so important to the voters of Grant County.

Six months ago I attended a political seminar where the main speaker said that only 36 percent of the registered voters of Grant County actually voted in the last election. Please consider the actual consequences of that apathy: 1988 - (D) Lowery became governor over (R) Evans by 2.7 percent

2000 - (D) Cantwell became a senator over (R) Gorton by 2000 votes

2004 - (D) Gregoire wins the "Closest Gubernatorial Race in History" over (R) Rossi by a mere 133 votes after two recounts.

2010 - (D) Murray edges (R) Rossi for the US Senate seat by a mere 1 percent.

I really have no desire to repeat the gross political mistakes of the last 25 years and the only way I can see to accomplish this is to have new, energetic, committed precinct committee officers who have promised to educate the people in their precinct in the entire voting process, from helping them get registered to actually voting.

To that end I agree totally with Ann Mix that the two best people for those jobs are Barbara Morgan for Moses Lake 7 precinct and Brent Bishop for the Wheeler 1 precinct.

I have known both of these fine people personally for over 30 years and can find nothing lacking in their character. I highly recommend both of them.

Jim Pyle

Moses Lake