One vote does make a difference

There may be lots of reasons not to vote in Tuesday's primary election, including the six party ballots voters must choose from in order to vote, new legislative districts and new polling places.

There are, however, many more reasons to vote.

The primary one, of course, is that your vote matters.

As trite as it may sound, voting is your right, your privilege, your responsibility, your opportunity and your obligation. It's an exercise that feels good.

Bottom line: Participating in Tuesday's election is a relatively painless way to make a big difference in the state's future. Lots of candidates are counting on you.

Think of the primary as the preliminary competition to the big race, the winner of which will be determined Nov. 5. Tuesday, voters will choose the person from each party who will get to run that race to November. The more people who participate in Tuesday's primary, the more likely it is that the strongest candidates will be selected, which means the better the choices voters will have Nov. 5, which means the better government will be.

During Tuesday's primary, Alaskans will nominate one candidate from each party for a six-year term for U.S. senator, a two-year term for U.S. representative, governor and lieutenant governor. They also will nominate one candidate from each party for 57 legislative seats -- 17 in the Alaska Senate and all 40 seats in the Alaska House of Representatives.

Alaskans also will decide an initiative to change the state's voting process. Under the preferential voting system, or instant runoff voting, voters would rank one to five candidate choices per office.

On the Kenai Peninsula, voters will nominate one candidate from each party for Senate District Q and House Districts 33, 34 and 35. House District 33 includes Kenai and Soldotna; House District 34, the rural Kenai Peninsula; and House District 35, Homer and Seward.

It would be easy to let voters' anger over the new primary system keep them away from the polls. Instead, it should spur them to action to get future primaries changed. Alaskans are not political party animals -- they do not want to be confined to one party's ballot, as they will be Tuesday. It's un-Alaskan.

Our hope is that voters won't take out their anger on election workers. It's not their fault. Instead, voters should make the best of a bad situation -- and use their vote wisely.

Remember, many voters now have new polling places. Below is the list of where to vote in House Districts 33, 34 and 35. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

District 33

Central: Soldotna Sports Center

Kenai No. 1: Kenai Mall

Kenai No. 2: Old State Court Building

Kenai No. 3: Kenai Senior Center

K-Beach: K-Beach Fire Station

Soldotna: Soldotna City Hall

District 34

Funny River: Kenai Borough Assembly Chambers

Kasilof: Tustumena Elementary School

Mackey Lake: Peninsula Center Mall

Nikiski: Nikiski Middle-Senior High School

Ninilchik: Ninilchik Public School

Scout Lake: CES Sterling Station

Salamatof: Nikiski Fire Station

Sterling: Sterling Senior Center

District 35

Homer No. 1: Homer City Council Chambers

Homer No. 2: Homer Senior Center

Anchor Point: Anchor Point Senior Center

Bear Creek: Bear Creek Fire Hall

Cooper Landing: Cooper Landing Community Hall

Diamond Ridge: Homer Legislative Information Office

Kachemak Bay: McNeil Canyon School

Kachemak City-Fritz Creek: Kachemak Community Center

Moose Pass: Moose Pass Community Hall

Seldovia: Seldovia Library

Seward: Seward City Hall