Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Tuesday night’s primary was a test run of a very complicated situation in a complicated year.

COVID-19 continues to play the part of thorn in our collective sides and it has complicated the political season in a number of ways.

It’s forcing candidates to find new ways to campaign in an effort to get the word out about their candidacy.

It’s never easy this year is it?

However, we would like to commend the local officials in Mower County’s own primary voting for their work Tuesday night, from the Auditor-Treasurer’s office to the officials on the ground floor.

Yes, as primaries go, voting was light. There were only a couple decisions to be made on the local ballot and will in no way be close to what’s expected Nov. 3.

But consider Tuesday a dress rehearsal nonetheless. This was an opportunity for officials to further lock down their processes so they can be better prepared for the general election.

There are a lot of unknowns this year as officials everywhere will have to prepare for what will likely be a record number of people casting votes through the mail as well as officials needing to worry about the added chore of sanitation and safety at each voting site.

Regardless of which side of the argument you fall on — for or against mail-in voting — it remains that those who work elections will have more stress put on them by this year’s already contentious elections.

The way Tuesday’s primary was handled was optimistic for the future and I think that’s something we can all agree on — that we could use some optimism.