Election season’s here; bring on those letters

The candidates have filed, the initiatives and referendums are out and the campaign season is off to an official start. So, here’s the official word so far on election letters.

As we told an earnest group of candidates at The Herald’s political seminar last week, when it comes to letters to the editor our focus is on the reader. We want to give you space to comment on the issues. We’re repeating our request that candidates, their families and campaign staff not submit letters. Readers will have to be forgiving if one or two get by us. We can’t possibly know all the names of staff members and spouses.

In the past we’ve asked for positive letters – why you like candidate A instead of why you don’t like candidate B. However, sometimes people vote for one candidate because they can’t tolerate the opponent. For that reason, we’ll accept both types of letters and plenty in between. Please, keep nastiness and personal attacks out of it, though. Those submissions will be rejected, as well as those that plant rumors that are impossible for us to verify.

Our letter selection and publication process is hardly an exact science. We try our best to run accepted letters in the general order that we receive them. But we don’t print an exact number of letters for each candidate because that’s impractical for a daily newspaper and it’s not reflective of what we receive from readers. Some candidates have very few letters written in their favor while others have dozens. Our page is not a poll, reflecting who is ahead or who might win according to the volume of letters. It is merely a daily collection of thoughts and opinions from readers throughout Snohomish and Island counties intended to share ideas and generate discussion.

Something else to consider: we don’t accept form letters. Your thoughts in your own words are far more valuable and interesting. Again, a couple might slip by us at first, but we’ll catch on.

We’ll be enforcing the 300-word limit on letters this time around. Exceptionally long letters will be rejected. Those that run a little over will be edited by us or sent back to the writers for editing. As with all letters, we reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, grammar and style and taste. Writers must include their first and last name, address and daytime phone number.

Please e-mail letters to letters@heraldnet.com. Letters can also addressed to Letters Section, The Herald, Box 930, Everett, WA 98206 or sent by fax to 425-339-3458.

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