As we contend with the awful effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, then do our best to give the little ones some semblance of normalcy as they look to celebrate Halloween, we are triply tasked with searching our souls for the right answers to questions posed at the ballot box next week.

For some of us the choices are blessedly clear, while others may have difficulty culling the wheat from the chaff amidst all of the conflicting messages put forward on each side of almost every issue. Politics as usual, really.

From the national race for the leadership of our country right on down to the regional issues that touch our everyday lives right here at home, it is an important election day. Every eligible voter should consider it his or her duty to vote and do the thing that makes life in this land such a precious gift: help to decide the course that we are to follow in the immediate future, and play their parts in writing the historical record for what is to follow.

Every single vote does count, be assured of that. Vote by mail ballots can be returned by mail to Somerville Elections Department, or through one of ten drop boxes located around the city.

So, don’t let a little rain or chilly weather or anything else stop you. From the troops at Valley Forge straight through to our humble present-day letter carriers, service to one’s country should not be hindered or halted due to a bit of inconvenient inclement weather. Or almost anything else, actually.

Let it be so for us as well. We are no less important.