I was dismayed to see in the last Triplicate that Roger Gitlin had expanded to the front page, with two news stories in addition to his editorial. This is disturbing. Gitlin is welcome to his opinions, but I would not rely on him for fact-based news. I hope that this is not a regular occurrence.Gitlin’s headline “Del Norte County leans conservative in state races” is an observation of the obvious. However, in the first sentence he makes a nonsensical statement that “Governor Gavin Newsom again lost another Del Norte County election.” This is a meaningless assertion. Newsom did not lose. He was overwhelmingly reelected as our Governor.Gitlin implies that it is a good thing that the majority of our local voters are out of step with what is happening with our state as a whole. Every statewide candidate that Del Norte County voted for lost. How does it help our county to remind these representatives that our county did not support them? Why should our Governor, Congressman, State Senator and Assemblymember care to help us when we did not support them?#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');Del Norte County is a little red island on a blue coast in a blue state. We are not separate from the rest of California and our local elected officials must find a way to work in this system for the benefit of our community.It took almost a week to count all the ballots that were received in our recent election. Preliminary results were reported on election night based on 6312 ballots that were received before the election and at the polls.Last Thursday it was reported that there were still 2070 ballots left to process. This was about 25% of the total votes cast and enough to swing a few close elections. This left some candidates in limbo.Those of us that have experience with elections know it takes time to process ballots and tabulate votes. This ensures that every vote is counted in a fair and transparent way, but some people expected that we should get the election results immediately. This is not realistic.Even worse, a few misguided souls suggested that a delay in reporting creates a chance for corruption. This is not supported by any evidence and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the process.I was pleased to see Roger Gitlin try to educate his followers with this on-line comment, “Folks, please understand this process cannot be rushed. Clerk Alissia Northrup strives for absolute integrity and 100% accuracy.”Sometimes we agree.Sometimes political parties agree. The local Democratic Party and Republican Party both endorsed a no vote on Measures T and U. This is rare bipartisan support for a good policy.Sometimes the voters in Del Norte County agree with the majority of voters in California. A Del Norte majority voted to support Proposition 1 to protect the constitutional right to reproductive freedom. This issue proved to be a decisive factor in elections across the country as voters pushed back on efforts to deny women the right to make choices regarding their bodily autonomy.Del Norte County voters also supported Proposition 28 which will provide additional funding for arts and music education in public schools. Reliable support for music and the arts is one of the endearing attributes of our community. Our local schools have expanded music and arts programs and I expect that our new School Board member Abbie Crist will continue this momentum.The final unofficial vote count was completed on Monday. The election results are not certified final until 30 days after the election, but this last count defined who won and lost.I am disappointed with the results of our Supervisor elections, but I will accept the result and try to make the best of it. We shall see what these newly elected Supervisors will do that will benefit the community.I am a resident of District 4 and Joey Borges is now my Supervisor. I don’t know what his goals are based on his campaign. My hope is that he will commit the time to read, learn, attend meetings and try his best to do something useful.I have less hope that Supervisor Wilson will do anything good. During his campaign, Wilson blamed Governor Newsom for less safe streets, exploding homelessness and rampant drug use. It is easy to blame someone else for our community’s problems during a campaign, but these are all issues that should be addressed locally.Wilson is now responsible for solving problems, not blaming others. What will Wilson do to increase affordable housing in our community? Will he support funding to improve mental health and addiction treatment services?Finally, I want to congratulate Rick Shepard and Gerhard Weber for their reelection to the Harbor District. I am a little disappointed that I did not win, but I wish them the best of luck.Kevin Hendrick is the Chair of the Del Norte County Democratic Central Committee - dndems@gmail.com googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });