Letters are welcome
You can tell it’s election season by the number of Letters to the Editor we are getting at The Times office.
This week’s Opinion Page includes several letters pondering issues and races in the upcoming election. We welcome these letters, within certain guidelines.
The Times cannot publish every letter we receive. The space we have for letters, like all news, is limited. We give preference to local races and to local writers. We try to balance out letters among both sides in a campaign.
The letters section is an important forum for our readers to be able to express opinions and support candidates. However, we cannot publish letters that are libelous or have proven false statements in them. We ask that letters be respectful of all sides.
We do not publish letters from candidates for office or their family members. If the candidate wants to reach our readers, they are welcome to purchase an ad in our newspaper. They are in the business of selling themselves, and in order to do that, they must follow the same guidelines that our other advertisers follow when they are selling their products or services.
Deadlines are important. We must have letters in our office by 3 p.m. on Monday the week of publication. Letters cannot exceed 300 words and must include a phone number where the writer can be reached for verification purposes.
No letters will be published in the final edition before the election (November 3).