Angela Perazzo’s July 8 letter in the Statesman-Examiner was a testament to Shannon Hughes’ 30 years of outstanding service in our Stevens County Elections Office. I concur with that assessment and can personally attest to Shannon’s professionalism, her integrity, and dedication to serving the citizens of our County. As either an observer or Lead Democrat observer of ballot processing and counting in just about every primary and general election since 2004 up to now in 2026, I have seen Shan- non at work making sure our elections were conducted fairly, accurately, and according to stringent state and federal laws. She treats all observers equally with the same respect, courteousness, and helpfulness be they from Re- publican, Democrat, Libertarian, or whatever political party represented, as well as welcoming ordinary citizens who also wish to individually witness and observe our American democracy at work. And she did so first under leadership of Democrat Auditor Tim Gray, and now un- der Republican Auditor Lori Larsen. As such, Shannon is an exemplar of a democracy’s true non-partisan governmental public civil servant, serving all the citizens in Stevens County. In doing so, she has helped transform Stevens County into both a regional and state, even a national, role model on how to properly conduct an election. Congratulations to both Shannon and our Elections Office