The votes have been cast and the election is over — until November and even bigger decisions have to be made.

Primaries, by their very nature, divide us as communities and separate us into partisan labels. The merits of this can certainly be debated but, after taking a short break to recover from election fatigue, we hope voters will forget about the primary and focus on each candidate’s individual merits.

Clark County voters have some strong choices when it comes to determining who will lead in key roles including the sheriff’s office, judge-executive, county magistrates, city commissioners, the mayor and others. This is the point where political affiliation becomes irrelevant. Many of the races are considered non-partisan and even those that are not need to be weighed without the blinders of party affiliation.

Apathy, both in the voting booth and within the community on an everyday basis, remains one of the biggest challenges our community and our country faces.

Overcoming this starts with education, as it is important citizens understand voting is a right, a privilege and also a responsibility.

It’s also critical for voters understand the importance of the elected positions and why having the right person in each can make all the difference in the world.

We applaud all individuals who put themselves out there to seek political office. Their civic commitment is critical to a functioning government. We also salute all the citizens who took time out of their busy lives to cast a ballot in today’s primary.

This is how our democracy is supposed to work.