A sure-to-be exciting election season has once again crept up on us.
We understand that there are differences of opinion on the season’s starting point. For candidates and political parties, work has been ongoing for months. For those who may be disillusioned by governmental goings-on, election season starts and ends when they cast their ballot.
For those who elect not to exercise their right to vote, we respectfully ask you to reconsider.
In any event, The Lincoln County News has officially kicked off its election coverage. As we have in years past, the front page of editions leading up to Nov. 8 will include side-by-side profiles of the candidates for the Maine House of Representatives and Maine Senate.
Our plan is to rerun all profiles the week of the election, so those who want to make an informed decision can pick up a copy on their way to cast their ballot.
We will also make a return to in-person candidate nights! Details are still being ironed out, but it’s looking like there will be three forums with the candidates of three races at each. We’ve already received buy-in from candidates from all points on the political spectrum, and we look forward to hearing from the others.
We’ll have more information to announce about the forums in the next few weeks. If you have any suggestions for questions you would like candidates to answer, please email them to editor@lcnme.com for consideration.
In the meantime, here are a few things to remember as we enter this electoral go-round.
First and foremost, the content of political advertising and letters to the editor do not represent the opinion of the newspaper, its ownership, the editor, or any member of the editorial team. This seems like something we shouldn’t have to say, but maybe the reminder will help stave off at least one angry phone call.
On the topic of letters to the editor, all submissions are required to follow LCN guidelines. We try to regularly run the guidelines on this page, and they can also be found on our website at lcnme.com/other-submissions-guide. Contenders for office should take special note of the guidelines for political candidates.
We have, and will, reject letters. Every now and then we get a submission from someone who doesn’t understand why they cannot call someone they disagree with an idiot. You can absolutely disagree with one another, but, as we all learned in elementary school, be respectful. Make your point without resorting to name-calling and your message is exponentially more likely to get across.
We’re sometimes accused of only running letters from one side. (Which side that is varies from week to week.) Space willing, we will run any letter that meets our guidelines. If we have breaking news on a Wednesday morning as we’re putting the paper together, we may have to remove a letter or two to get in a blurb about the car crash, structure fire, or whatever else could be happening. In that unlikely event, we will carry the letter to the following week.
If you feel your belief is underrepresented on the editorial page, write a letter! Respond to a “Muse Over This” prompt! The letters to the editor cannot accurately represent all views in Lincoln County if there are no people writing in with varying points of view.
Finally, when having a reaction to any content in the newspaper, please remember there’s a real person on the other end of your phone call or email.
We know we will make mistakes and misjudgments in the 60-some days until the election. We’re all human, it happens. However, please know we are all operating in good faith, just like we hope our candidates are and will continue to if elected.
