OUR VIEW: Tuesday, we trade volume for the vote

Every registered voter can cast their ballot Tuesday.

The police officer has a vote. So does the soccer mom and the hippie and the business owner. Ditto the mechanic, the frat boy, the editor, the barista, the Christian, the Buddhist and the atheist.

That's the promise and the beauty of Election Day, when every voice at the poll is heard, and every voice is valued as much the next.

In Moscow's especially prickly campaign thicket, that salve of order and simplicity is welcomed.

Tuesday's City Council vote will begin a new chapter of Moscow leadership and end a campaign season perhaps unrivaled in interest, partisianship and, some would argue, ugliness.

The seemingly divergent drumbeats of the Moscow Civic Association and Greater Moscow Alliance - and the candidates they endorse - have lent a definite partisan feel to the "nonpartisan" proceedings.

The increased interest in new means of communication, like blogs and anonymous online forums, has provided greater access to information and opinion, but also enabled - or at least brought into the open - a growing lack of civility among residents.

Add to that tough and real questions about growth, water use and quality of life, and we get where we are today - which is perhaps why we long for Election Day.

Tuesday, the loudmouth cyber-bully with the witty comebacks and timely jabs will have but one voice in the election. So will the quiet Fort Russell grandmother with the cat and her daily crossword puzzle.

The man with the fancy blog and all the answers has but one voice. So does the man on the corner with the sign, and the woman wearing the tie-dye pushing her stroller.

Come Tuesday, everyone trades the volume - and the vitriol - for their vote.

It's that vote, not the volume, that matters.