We applaud the passion and motivation of islanders who have written letters to the editor during this election season.

Amidst a divided nation and a sea of apathetic non-voters, our islands are hustling and bustling with voters who are not afraid to speak their minds.

We have struggled to manage the huge uptick in submissions and how to organize a paper that has been 50 percent political content.

Many editions in October had up to four pages of letters to the editor. As a small print paper pushing against the tide of online news, we are proud that so many of you were eager to have your thoughts seen in newsprint.

We are also proud that the opinions expressed in our pages differed in many ways. From conservative to liberal, rational to anger, fact-checked to emotionally driven, we had them all.

This election has been tough. While the majority of the letters we received were well-articulated, we also saw hatred, mud-slinging and unfounded stories of blame. It has left our newspaper staff wondering what has become of our Democracy?

But in the paper of record, we also see a healthy community with citizens free to argue. It is actually the dissonance found in the voices fighting to be heard that give us hope in our system.

We are glad the elections are behind us so we can return to covering all the other critical news in our tiny communities.