Now that summer has given way to the start of school and fall is in the air, we can no longer ignore the fact that election season is heating up in a big way. Perhaps, one of the best parts of the fact it is already the second week of September is that we are now less-than two months away from no longer having a constant barrage of election ads just about everywhere we look on a daily basis. Each day that goes by is one day closer to having the election come to a conclusion—or at least we hope. 

With that, we are also beginning to field a number of questions from candidates about our policy regarding letters to the editor and a voters guide leading up to the election. 

Regarding our election policies, I’ll make this brief as our policy has remained the same for well over a decade. However, if you have questions let me know and I can definitely expand upon this if necessary. 

• We do not charge for political endorsement letters. While most newspapers charge to run endorsement letters, we feel it is important for voters to hear why you support a candidate. That being said, the letters are run on a first come, first serve basis by writers in our immediate reading area, or by residents with ties to the area. Not that we don’t care what you think in Alexandria, Minn., for example, but we want to hear from the people in our own backyard. If we have too many endorsement letters for one week, we will hold your letter for another week. If you want to ensure a political endorsement letter runs in the newspaper on a certain week you are able to purchase an ad. 

• Believe it or not we do read the political letters to the editor and if it appears the letter is a form letter drafted by a campaign and simply given to a supporter to sign, we may not run it in the newspaper. Trust me, it happens more than you think and we will not run letters to the editor that appear to be form letters drafted by a campaign. 

• All letters to the editor must be signed by the writer with the town in which they reside and a contact number in case we have a question.

• Letters to the editor will be fact checked to the best of our ability. 

• The final week for a letter to the editor concerning the election will be two weeks before the election, or Tuesday, Oct. 20. The week of October 27 will be reserved for responses only, for letters to the editor that appeared in our October 20 issue. We do not want new issues raised without giving a candidate a chance to respond the week before the election. If you want to purchase an ad to tell people why they should vote for you the week before the election, we would be happy to visit with you about some affordable options.

• Speaking of advertising, letters to the editor concerning election issues will not be allowed by a candidate, unless it is a paid political letter or an ad. If a letter to the editor is paid for by a candidate, it will be noted as such in the newspaper. Any candidate who would like to visit about this further can feel free to give me a call whenever you like.  

• Speaking of signs, yes we can print them so give us a call at 548-5585 and I would be happy to get you a quote. We have printed campaign signs in other communities in which we operate newspapers. We can also print and design custom brochures, campaign flyers and other campaign material. Please give us a call and we would be happy to help you promote your campaign as you support a small business in your own community.

• Our deadlines for letters to the editors is Friday at noon.

• We will also print a voter’s guide leading up to the election in which we ask candidates running for office a series of questions to print in the newspaper. This will come out sometime in middle to late October.