Give thanks to Willard and Co.

For those of us who merely walk into the polling booths and cast our votes on "Super Tuesday" little appreciation is rendered to those who made it all possible.

The diligent workers in the office of the County Clerk led by Willard Helander climbed some unassailable mountains to make this seeming "easy" task possible.

Burdened by a Springfield crowd that cares little of how difficult they make the task of voting, her superb crew, led by Cindy Pagano, Luke Stowe, Todd and Judy and many, many others suffered through the Sen. Link petition objection and other numerous delays designed to frustrate their good efforts and made it all happen.

Willard mailed out hundreds of thousands of voter guides to make our job of selection that much easier. But believe me with 45 day walk-in voting, 22 day walk-in voting, absentee balloting and a myriad of other challenges this didn't happen because someone rubbed a genie's lamp. It happened because the crew in the office of the county clerk rolled up their sleeves and made it happen.

While we were enjoying the holidays with our loved ones they were assigning polling places, printing ballots and all the hundreds of other behind the scenes tasks we rarely think about. So when you fill in that oval for your favorite candidate on Feb. 5th, pause for a moment, and thank Willard and Company for the long hours they put in to make your few minutes of voting so "easy."

Raymond True

Libertyville