Time sure flies when it’s election season.
As we continue to publish election-related letters — odds are you’ve noticed a few about Valley’s Edge, for example — we’re again reminded of the passion those in Chico and throughout Butte County feel about local issues. That passion spills over onto our opinion pages as readers make their best cases for (or against) certain candidates and measures.
To give everyone a fair shake, we always limit writers to one election-related letter per election season. We announced the start of election-letter season at the beginning of the calendar year, and we’re here today to remind you that the deadline for submitting election-related letters is Thursday, Feb. 29.
To recap, here are the rules:
— Election-related letters must be received by Thursday, Feb. 29 to ensure they’ll all get in by Election Day on March 5. You get one letter per election season, period; not one per election topic.
— Keep personal insults out of this. Criticize a candidate’s record or positions all you want. Name-calling and demeaning comments aren’t going to win anyone over, but they might keep your letter out of the paper.
— We don’t print anonymous letters to the editor. We require first and last names, addresses and phone numbers. We don’t print the address and phone number but use it to verify identity. We don’t print purported facts that can’t be independently verified. When using facts, cite a source. We won’t print letters that require substantial research to verify.
— We don’t allow letters from candidates or campaign managers, unless it’s in response to a news story, letter or editorial specifically about them. They have ample ways to get their message out, including advertising. Candidates get to do this only once during this period — same as any other letter writer.
— All letters must be no more than 250 words. That doesn’t mean you have to use every single available word. More people will read your letter if it’s short. Get to the point.
— If we get letters that appear to be part of a letter-writing campaign, we’ll run a small sampling of them but not all. Be original.
— One last time, our cutoff date for receiving letters is Thursday, Feb. 29. Our goal is to run them all before Election Day and not drop any late bombshells.
— We’ll also note that during election season, we are allowing letters on national election topics. That means if you want to tell us how much you love your favorite presidential candidate and dislike the other guy, well, here’s your chance.
After Election Day, we’ll go back to our policy of allowing letters only on local issues. Exceptions will be allowed for letters that specifically explain how national issues are impacting people locally. You can also write letters in response to any story, letter or editorial that appears in our newspaper.
You’ll need to be very specific while making either connection. Sorry, but beginning a letter by saying “Chicoans should be concerned about what’s happening in … ” followed by 242 words with your opinion on the matter does not make it a local topic.
— Finally, we’ll publish only one letter per writer every two weeks.
We set these guidelines to give everyone a fair shake, and also to help keep our letters section a fresh, civil and robust venue for an exchange of opinions. We print around 1,500 letters to the editor every year; that’s a lot for a newspaper our size.
It can only happen in a community where people care about the issues and support their newspaper. We thank all of you for doing both.
