I know I’m not the only one. But for me, it’s a first, and I feel hung out to dry.

It’s the first time I’ve looked at an array of candidates for a local or national office — in this case, local — and said, “I cannot vote for a single one.”

In the serious consideration of who runs our county government, I feel as though I know more about these candidates than I’d like. It’s exacerbated by my belief that they’re in line to replace a genuinely excellent predecessor.

Always, I’ve found a way to choose. In the great tradition of, “You don’t always get what you want …” I compromise. I choose what I deem to be the best of the lot.

Ideas showcases stories, opinion and analysis about Hawaiʻi, from the state’s sharpest thinkers, to stretch our collective thinking about a problem or an issue. Email news@civilbeat.org to submit an idea or an essay.

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I’m neither ignorant nor apathetic. I’m old enough to believe that pulling a lever, tapping a computer screen, or mailing an envelope is a sacred duty.

I’ve voted in every single, available election since I turned 21 — and that number indicates it’s been decades since.

I once strongly reprimanded my son who threw his vote to third-party, candidate Ralph Nader, when it could have made a real difference in the Gore-Bush cliff hanger in Wisconsin. But at least he voted.

It’s a tradition of genuine idealism, I understand, to put your heart and vote behind a candidate who offers a comforting choice — with no chance to take the prize. It feels virtuous. My brother once wrote in his own name and solved the problem. Or did he?

I supported Eugene McCarthy in primaries and later George McGovern in the general election. Clearly, I’ve voted for losing candidates in the past. I struggle, only momentarily, with the losses. When I was much younger, I bragged that I’d never voted for a winning candidate. That is not my issue now.

This time it’s me — me, tempted to sit out the mayoral race on my island and cast my vote only in other contests.

I write, and I fear that unless I offer a solution with the conventional words — pick the best of the lot, and vote — this won’t see the light of day. Unless I solve my dilemma and proclaim compromise to be the moral necessity, I will have failed the purpose of an essay.

Instead, I write this. Perhaps, they’re all genuinely good choices (for someone else) — the very point of our electoral process. They may not be mine, and I really do not have to make it. For the mayoral office alone, I’ll wait out this round for the next.

I can’t and won’t vote against my own, and what I perceive to be, the greater good. But I bow to my community’s choices. I remain passionate about our county council seats.

So, I will vote. And I hope that my less-than-certain neighbors across the islands will join me as well.