By Don Nelson
Beginning this week we’ll be devoting a large amount of newspaper space, representing a whole lot of reporting time, to covering local races on the Nov. 6 general election ballot, as well as several statewide initiatives.
In addition to helping deciding important local races, Methow Valley residents will have a say in the selection of two 12th District representatives to the state Legislature, and the 4th Congressional District representative.
There are plenty of places to find information about the candidates and the initiatives, but we believe it’s part of the newspaper’s mission to provide our own coverage, and we hope it will be helpful.
The valley represents only a tiny portion of the 4th District and the 12th District, which are both sprawling expanses, and is home to less than 15 percent of Okanogan County residents.
But our voices are persistent and our influence is frequently (and gratifyingly) out of proportion to our population. People here care about things and act on them, which is a large part of this newspaper’s motivation to literally invest in the most extensive political coverage we can manage. I wish we had the wherewithal to do more, but our resources are stretched and the campaign process wears us out too.
In one way, we’ve already given over a lot of newsprint to the election season. The opinion pages have been healthily populated with letters to the editors and submitted columns. We encourage the contributions and will continue to run them through the Oct. 31 issue, as long as they don’t contain attacks that can’t be rebutted before the election. We discourage “ping pong” letters — one writer responding to another writer’s submission, and so forth. We prefer that you air your own positions rather than react to someone else’s.
Some newspapers actually charge to print “political letters,” treating them like campaign ads, and restrict the kind of “mobilizing information” (email addresses, website URLs and the like) that letters can contain. We’re less hidebound about those kinds of things, as long as the letters adhere to general decorum. We still limit them to 350 words, and to one submission per month. And we don’t think you should have to pay for the privilege.
One thing we do look out for is organized letter writing campaigns that scatter similar submissions all over the place. I picked up on one a couple of weeks ago and we’re not including those letters.
We do accept genuine letters from Okanogan County residents who don’t live in the Methow Valley as long as they are on topic and meet all the other criteria. We don’t mind if they have appeared in other Okanogan County papers — I figure most people here aren’t reading those fine publications as often as they peruse the Methow Valley News. Many people have few other means for expressing their personal opinions without being sucked into the social media quicksand.
It can be a tricky thing writing election stories — we strive for balance, but expect that some people will always see bias when they are absolutely determined to see it.
We appreciate the time and courtesy that the candidates have extended to us. They have full days, lots of demands to meet and miles of territory to cover, and they are hearing the same questions over and over.
While we have occasionally taken editorial stands on some statewide initiatives and other ballot measures, we don’t endorse candidates. Many papers consider it their historic obligation to make endorsements, but we don’t have the time or inclination. With enough attention and effort, you can figure out who you want to cast your ballot for.
All of this election coverage effort, by all the various news media, is fundamentally based on the assumption that voters want and need information to help them make their decisions. It’s only a flawed assumption in this respect: Too many citizens ignore the opportunity to participate in one of democracy’s most vital exercises — going to the polls and making their vote matter. Please do. I’m one of those people who believes that if you don’t vote, you’ve got no standing to complain about the outcomes. That’s especially true this year, when all mail ballots in the state have prepaid return postage. You don’t even have to find a stamp, so there goes that excuse.
Be informed. Make choices. Participate. Don’t waste your citizenship out of disinterest or neglect.
