One Moment, Please… I’m Looking Forward to November 4

Get out and vote. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to participate in the process.

Interestingly, I was thinking about the impact of each person’s vote in a smaller population like most of our rural communities. At a local level, especially, each person’s vote equals a higher percentage of value compared to large scale elections. So, the impact of your vote for candidates for city council and school board carries more weight.

After Election Day, whatever will be, will be. Hopefully, we can all rest easy knowing that we won’t be overwhelmed with campaign fodder starting November 4.

I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of sick of receiving politically motivated text messages that I never signed up for. Some of our readers may recall the good ole days when we had landlines, do-not-call lists, and our cellphone numbers were not sold to companies that would either try to sell you an extended warranty, a home equity loan, or a politician. Those were the peaceful days. Now, all of our data is for sale, including our “supposedly” private cellphone numbers.

I know for the Fillmore County Journal, our team did their part to try to keep things on the up and up. We didn’t allow for any mudslinging between candidates in our newspaper, and there were subtle attempts that were rejected. I may be a dreamer, but my feeling has always been that nobody wants to hear one candidate bash the other candidate. I feel like most people want to hear what a candidate stands for; not how much they abhor their opponent. As for TV and radio ads, they obviously have a different set of rules. There are none, apparently. Bash away!

A few of our readers have expressed their dismay with our policy that we do not allow for letters to the editor that are for or against any candidates. Unfortunately, newspapers get used in ways that some people may not realize. Years ago, I was chatting with a newspaper publisher in northern Minnesota. He said that they were changing their editorial policy to the same restrictions we have adopted. He went on to share how a local political group said they were disappointed because they considered the free letters to the editor to be part of their campaign budget. They purchased ads on TV and radio, and then submitted letters to the editor for free. They didn’t want to have to pay to promote their candidate of choice, and they also wanted to talk bad about their opponent with a continuous chain of letters signed by members of their party.

We recently received a letter to the editor from a person from Chatfield, Minnesota. I said, “It looks fine. Go ahead and publish it, but don’t publish it until after the election.” With our newspaper arriving in mailboxes on Mondays, one day before Election Day, I don’t feel it’s right to allow for a letter to the editor that may sway the vote without an opportunity for others to respond. So, I said this letter to the editor can run on November 9 – following the election.

And, then our seasoned Assistant Editor, Ellen Whalen, received an e-mail from another individual in Iowa with the exact same letter to the editor submission. Verbatim. This was great timing, because Ellen is training our new Assistant Editor, Emma Broadwater, on what to look for in her new role.

I’ll finish the rest of the story in the next issue, after the dust has settled from the election.