Good afternoon. I am Brian Gale, rancher from Ruby Valley, and candidate for Elko county commission, district one.

Firstly, thank you for your willingness to put in the time it takes to provide a county government. I imagine there are times when you wish somebody else could take the heat and make the difficult decisions, that fall to you. Thank you.

As you well know, America does not have a pure democracy. Never has, hopefully never will. What we do have, is a republic. In a democracy, every single voter is consulted on every single issue. Not very practical when there are 300 million citizens. Not even desirable when issues to be decided go far beyond the expertise of the average citizen. In a republic, the authority of the public to act, is delegated to a few elected officials. These elected officials, trusted to act in the interest of the public, even above their own personal interests, have what is called a fiduciary obligation. The word fiduciary comes from the Latin, fede, which means faith, and Fiducia, which is the dominative form of faith, or trust.

The foundation of the American Republic, is trust. The only authority you, or any other elected official, has is in the trust the people have that you were indeed duly elected to represent them.

Let me state that again. Your authority to act in behalf of the people, does not come from the governor of the state of Nevada. Your authority to act in behalf of the people does not come from Washington DC. Your authority to act in behalf of the people does not even come from God. That authority resides in the public and is delegated temporarily to you. Your true authority only comes from the trust that the public has that you were indeed elected to represent them.

Gentlemen, whether or not the dominion voting machines have been hacked, whether or not the dominion voting machines can currently be hacked, whether or not the dominion voting machines ever will be able to be hacked, the trust that the public of your county have in those voting machines has deteriorated.

Consider this, would you please. As the root of our American Republic is trust, do you five commissioners actually expect the voting public of Elko county to put more trust in some computer produced by some people, they have never, and will never see, more than they trust their own neighbors?

If I were in your position, and the public willing, I will be, I would decide in favor of trust for my neighbors over trust for a faceless international corporation, every single time.

For peaceful, prosperous, liberty,

Brian D. Gale

Brian@Gale4Elko.com