ALL OF THE candidates who ran in the August 5 primary election deserve our thanks for putting forth the time and effort to vie for elected office. It takes an enormous amount of work to campaign—from knocking on voters’ doors to attending events. Without people who put themselves forward, the Democratic process doesn’t work. In Ann Arbor’s Wards 4 and 5, the City Council candidates ran unopposed. We cannot stress how disappointing this is. While we have no opinion what ever about the candidacies of the individuals involved, that they ran unopposed does a disservice to the office and to the city. The candidates chose not to attend public events and skipped public meetings at which their views on issues could be made clear. We find this, too, a disappointment.

Multiple judgeships, including one in Ann Arbor’s 15th District Court, are uncontested. Such apathy breeds judges who are arrogant and disinclined to provide good customer service, or so The Ann magazine argued in a recent two part series on the Washtenaw Trial Court.

Say what you like about alleged “aggressive” campaigning by the judicial candidates competing for the open Probate Court judgeship, but those five candidates provided voters ample opportunity to choose from among a variety of people. Most all of the judicial candidates did an excellent job of getting out into the community and educating voters about themselves and just what it is a Probate Court judge does.

Likewise, City Council candidates who ran in Wards 1, 2 and 3 worked hard to help voters make informed decisions. Alas, we don’t believe all of the Council candidates were honest with voters about their political intentions and their political allegiances. One candidate did not choose to reveal information about his views related to a woman’s right to choose and marriage equality until this newspaper asked directly. However, local elections come around often and voters who feel they’ve been sold a bill of goods can choose a different candidate the next time around. That being said, all of the candidates in Wards 1, 2 and 3 worked tirelessly on their campaigns and deserve our thanks whether they got our votes or not. Likewise, the four candidates who competed to win the Democratic mayoral primary deserve to be congratulated for running city-wide campaigns and for weathering intense scrutiny from both voters and the media.

For judicial, county, state and national candidates, as well as Ann Arbor’s mayoral primary election winner, August 5 was only the beginning. These candidates have additional campaigning until the November 5 general election. Michigan’s senatorial and gubernatorial elections will bring out a larger number of voters, to be sure. Speaking of those elections, we would be eternally grateful if all of the candidates campaigned on the issues, including the economy, education, the environment and the state’s infrastructure, among others. Michigan’s residents deserve no less.

Locally, we want to thank the many public and civic groups whose members organized well-attended candidate events. The members of the Ann Arbor League of Women Voters work tirelessly to bring televised candidate forums to those unable to attend events in person. The owners of Literati, a downtown Ann Arbor book shop, organized a candidate event, as well, as did the Social Action Committees of Temple Beth Emeth/St. Clare of Assisi Episcopal Church.

Finally, we want to thank the 45,596 voters who cast ballots in Washtenaw County on August 5. This includes 16,953 Ann Arbor voters who went to the polls or who voted absentee. While it’s common to bemoan low voter turnout and castigate those who can’t be bothered to do their civic duty, it’s important to recognize the efforts of those who do go to the polls—whether we agree with their choices or not.