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To begin with, I must say that politics is a science, and as such, a candidate can very easily become a ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œmad scientist.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� Seriously, by the time a hard-working candidate for office completes a campaign that begins with a filing date in mid-January and ends with a final resolution in mid-May, a candidate can sometimes question his or her own sanity.

I have been around or involved in the political field since I was a fourth-grader living just below the hill where I went to elementary school at Verdunville Grade School. I could never have imagined back then that the person I would much later marry would become the principal there, but Janice is.

Anyway, living near the school where a polling place has been located all of my life allowed me to be there at the school for every election from the fourth grade until the present. I loved being on the school grounds at election time when I was growing up, and even after I reached adulthood, riding a Trailways bus from Huntington to Logan to register to vote as soon as I turned 18 years old at Marshall University.

It was a circus atmosphere on Election Day, and it was exciting. I watched fistfights occur, pistols drawn, and outright vote buying happen in broad daylight, as if that was a normal thing. Come to think of it, it was normal at the time.

I have said before that for many people in Logan County, and likely other surrounding counties as well, Election Day was like Christmas and election eve was like Christmas Eve for many people. Santa Claus didnÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™t wear a red suit, but he did have a big bag of goodies, including money and plenty of Mattingly-Moore brand liquor back in those days ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” at least at election time.

The interesting part is that there were several political Santa Clauses available, and voters even got to choose the Santa you wanted gifts from. The really ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œslickÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� voter sometimes could manage to receive gifts from more than just one Santa. And, the more eligible voters you had in your family, the more money you received. In fact, you sometimes could secure a job with the state road crew or elsewhere if you played your political cards just right.

Every community had its own elves, who carried out the orders of their particular Santa Claus. Those political elves knew who wanted the liquor, who wanted the money, or who wanted a road or bridge repaired, and even those few voters who were referred to as ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œindependents,ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� who chose to wait until December to deal with the real Santa.

Those elves, often referred to as precinct captains, would show up at homes on election eve and bring whatever it took to persuade potential voters to vote and even ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œworkÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� for their slate of candidates the next day. Sometimes, another elf, representing a different political Santa Claus, would go to the same location and offer even better gifts than the first elf.

After midnight runs to numerous homes in a particular precinct, the following day would find the elves busy hiring drivers to retrieve voters and bring them to the polls where they would be subject to numerous other elves trying to persuade them to vote for their slate of candidates. Lines of voters would be subjected to one person after another handing them their paper slates listing one side of candidates or the other. This action was entirely normal at the time, but also very annoying.

Inside the polls were hand-picked poll-workers who were selected by their respective partyÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s county executive committees ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” Republican or Democrat ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” and, if they played the game right, each would receive much more funding from the Santa Clauses than the meager poll workers pay that was offered at the time.

HereÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s how it worked. When a particular voter was handed a slate of candidates, he or she might also receive a booklet of matches. Yes, matches, normally used to light cigarettes.

The voter would be told to give the matches to a particular poll worker once they got inside the polling place. If the voter allowed the poll worker to go behind the curtain with them and pull the voting levers preferred by their chosen Santa Claus, then two of the paper matches would be folded outside the match book. The voter would then be told to hand the matchbook back to the elf that had given it to him or her, once the voter was back outside.

SantaÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s outside elf would make sure the two matches were outside of the matchbook and if so, then the voter would deserve to be paid ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” sometimes with a $5 bill or a half-pint of liquor, or even both. However, if the matchbook was handed to the elf and no matches had been folded from the small matchbook, then the voter would not be paid because it meant he or she did not comply with the poll workerÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™s choices, often causing a minor disturbance on the election grounds.

Over the years, many elves and Santa Clauses got in legal trouble, some of them winding up in prison for vote buying.

Eventually, things did get better when outside poll workers began to get checks of usually $100 for bringing voters to the polls to cast their ballots. The checks were supposed to be for ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œworkÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥� the elves did, but it really was just another form of vote buying. Drivers usually would bring members of their own families, many of whom even had their own vehicles.

The 300-foot law passed in West Virginia changed much of the on-ground campaign tactics, as Santa Clauses and their elves could not get so close to the voters as they entered the polling places to vote. It changed Logan County politics for the better.

With the advent of social media, cell phones, and other changes, elections have evolved in many ways since I was that fourth-grader standing on the grounds with a hot dog and a small glass bottle of Coca-Cola, all of which was available free of charge only on Election Day.

The one thing that is still visible, particularly via television and even radio, is the smear tactics designed to make one candidate or another appear badly to the public. One negative advertisement after another via television and radio can turn voters off to even wanting to vote. Maybe that applies to the measly 26% voter turnout in Logan County. One quote IÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™ve often heard from some folks, which really is not entirely true nowadays in Logan County, sounds like this:

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥œWhy should I vote? TheyÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥™re all crooks, anyway.ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥�

Unfortunately, from all the legal actions and finger pointing in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, we political officeholders located low on the totem poll of public service can only try to work harder to convince our constituents that we should all be in this battle of life together. We can and must make things better for Logan County.

I appreciate the profound confidence that was shown to me in our most recent election, May 14. I can also appreciate those childhood days on the election grounds. Afterall, it was those times that propelled me to enter the political realm of life.

I honestly thought then and I still believe that ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” working together ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥” we can make for a better Logan County.

For the first time ever, there were absolutely no precinct workers located on the grounds at Verdunville Grade School.

Folks, the worm has turned. Thanks.