LETTER FROM THE EDITOR: Get out the vote...

Whether you’re planning on voting yes, no or choosing a candidate that works for you, your vote matters.  

Despite the important matters on the various ballots last year, Grant and Adams counties both suffered from horrendous voter turnout in last year’s primary and general elections. Only 24.85% (3,580 of 14,405 voters) in Grant County and 994 of 2,602 (38.2%) in Adams County’s registered voters filled in and submitted their ballots in the last primary elections we had. In the general election in November 2025, that number wasn’t much better. Grant increased to 30.54% and Adams to 39.24%.  

As we move forward with the elections of 2026, I am hopeful that we can do better in the communities the Columbia Basin Herald serves.  

This spring, a majority of the school districts we serve have some sort of measure on the ballot. Whether it’s an EP&O levy like the Royal School District is asking to be renewed or a construction bond put forth by the Ephrata School District, education is the biggest portion of the ballot in February.  

The paper doesn’t endorse a position one way or another on any of these matters. We hope we’ve given you the information you need to decide for yourselves whether you should vote yes or no. I understand that some people are feeling the pinch of the economic struggles caused by inflation, so they may be voting no on education issues where they’d ordinarily vote yes. Some folks will instead vote yes and hope it doesn’t present too much of a financial challenge for them and their neighbors. Both decisions are valid and very, very personal. Choose what you feel is right for you and your household.  

However, what I do endorse, and what the Columbia Basin Herald endorses is that you DO make a choice and make your voice heard through the ballot box. Important issues are at stake and your thoughts, needs, wants, dreams and sense are vital contributions to what our Founding Fathers called “the marketplace of ideas.” That’s a concept I took to heart in Social Studies and History courses throughout school, and one I hope you all maybe are familiar with or look up when you can.  

The gist of it is, if we all put all of our ideas and thoughts and wants into a pot, the best ideas will come out to be skimmed off the top. Occasionally, flavors will mix and float to the top as the best ideas for our communities, state and nation.  

Please vote — in whatever way you feel is right — in February. Fill out the ballot, drop it off or mail it in, and be heard. It matters.  

Take care, and thank you for your readership, 

R. Hans “Rob” Miller
Managing Editor
Columbia Basin Herald
Basin Business Journal