Today is Election Day. It goes without saying that we urge voters to head to the polls, no matter the weather, and cast their ballots. But every bit as important, we urge voters to be discriminating, to carefully consider their decisions, to weigh pros and cons of every candidate before actually voting.

Democracy counts on all of us voting — but it survives only if we make informed decisions.

That won’t be easy. For instance, the huge battle to win the GOP gubernatorial nomination — pitting Gov. Rick Perry against two formidable challengers, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and feisty Debra Medina — has been long on anti-Washington rhetoric, short on homegrown solutions, especially as our state government hurtles toward a budget shortfall of $15 billion or more.

While we support Perry’s calls for state agencies to cut their budgets by 5 percent, that isn’t going to come close to delaying the approaching economic tsunami. The only reason we avoided devastation in 2009 is that the state of Texas quietly accepted federal stimulus funds to plug state budget holes. Judging from the public tenor, no such stimulus funds will save us in 2011.

Yet we have reason to be hopeful. We’re heartened, for instance, by the large and lively field of congressional candidates vying to become the GOP nominee for District 17. The fact we see so many candidates — and at a time when public service is held in such ill repute — is surely the sign of a healthy democracy.

In making hard choices, we encourage you to consider in detail the backgrounds of the candidates and ask yourself: Does Candidate A talk in terms of solutions and ideas — or does he only rant? Is this candidate someone you would truly want in your employ? How promising is he at sitting down and talking with other parties in search of common ground?

As is custom, the Trib is making no endorsements in today’s primary. The exception is the Texas Senate District 22 race, which is so strange that we’ve opted to get involved and strongly urge re-election of Sen. Kip Averitt, a Waco Republican who retired from the field in January for health reasons. We have deep reservations about his only opponent, Darren Yancy.

Aside from some disturbing legal and professional problems concerning Yancy that we’ve highlighted in the Trib, Yancy hails from the Fort Worth suburbs of Johnson County. We believe it’s crucial we have a state senator for our district who actually comes from somewhere in Central Texas and understands its special needs and unique challenges. Voting for Averitt today sets up political options that could well ensure Central Texas continues to be thoughtfully and forcefully represented in Austin.

RELATED SEARCHES

• McLennan County polling places: March 2 election
• On the ballot in McLennan County: Propositions and contested races for March 2