I read the editorial in the Sept. 27 Redmond Reporter about voter apathy and wanted to thank you for writing about this extremely serious problem.

That said, while I appreciate your effort I think you missed the target.

The reason people don’t vote in primary elections (or the general) is that they know only candidates from the major political parties have a chance of winning, so voters ask themselves why vote when they already know that a Democrat or a Republican (and almost always the incumbent) will win?

Add to that the fact that people know our political system has been almost completely corrupted by special interest money and corporate lobbyists and you are assured that a large percentage of the public will forego voting.

When you consider the level of influence peddling in the halls of government and that as a result our elected officials have much less incentive to honestly represent us, it’s amazing that anyone turns out to vote at all.

My point? Exhorting people to get out there and vote will have ZERO impact on someone who doesn’t vote.

I truly believe the only thing that has a chance of getting more people involved is reforming how congress deals with money and that means campaign finance reform.

Washington Public Campaigns (http://www.washclean.org/) is the mechanism that can achieve this goal in Washington state so the next time you write an editorial urging people to get involved, rather than simply telling them to get informed and vote, tell them about

WPC and the benefits of elections free of the influence of money. Suggest a specific action everyone can take, like joining WPC, which will truly make a difference.

Thanks again for trying to make a difference.

Mark Demianew

Redmond