Let me let you in on a little secret: There's an election on Nov. 3, 2020.
I know, I know. Loose lips sinks ships, right?
As I worked on content for the weekend's pages late last week, a few letter to the editor submissions about candidates or issues in Tuesday's elections were still coming in. Waiting so late in the election cycle, dear readers, is a sure-fire recipe to ensure a letter to the editor will just end up in the trash can.
Here in Northwest Arkansas, we have long had a policy of cutting off publication of election-related letters at least by the day before the election.
You'll probably see some election-related letters on the Voices Page in the next day or two. Letters on that page come from all over Arkansas and publish statewide. It's compiled by the good people at the Democrat-Gazette newsroom in Little Rock, and they have rules that work for that statewide effort. I've learned from experience here in Northwest Arkansas that it's not a good idea for me to publish election-related letters in the last day or two before an election. It's just safer for everyone involved that no last-second claims about a candidate or issue are lobbed out there leaving no time to correct bad information before people head to the polls.
And there's no reason anyone should need to wait until that last day or two to express themselves.
Elections are like major holidays. Nobody should be surprised that Christmas comes every December. Nobody should be shocked to discover the first Monday of September is Labor Day. We can almost always count on the Fourth of July being somewhere in the vicinity of July 4 every year, except in a Leap Year.
No, wait, that's not how it works. I consulted the experts: July 4 is always on July 4.
And Election Day is never, ever, ever a surprise.
Yet on the Friday before every election, I get at least a couple of letters or a phone call or two from people who have waited until the very last minute of campaign season. Most of them are entirely understanding when I tell them there's little to no chance for them to get their perspective in the paper with such a late submission. A few have gotten angry, asserting that my inability to publish the late-coming letter is related to its content, i.e., I disagree with it so I won't publish it.
It's hard for some people to believe, but my devotion is to having a robust section that includes as many different perspectives as I can manage to get in. That's what a letters section should be. If, collectively, the letters section leans one way or the other at any given moment, it's because that's the kind of letters being submitted.
I appreciate anyone who puts cohesive thoughts together to advocate for a position he or she believes in. And those who can abide by our fairly basic rules in Northwest Arkansas -- fewer than 500 words, clear writing, avoiding libel, submitting name, address and telephone number and a limit on publication of no more than once per month to give as many people as possible an opportunity to be heard.
And don't wait until the last second to submit a letter and expect to get it in. There's almost always a line of folks ahead of you. For time-sensitive letters, I do my best to work with people, but there's always a point at which the work has to get done.
I'm glad to say the letters section of the newspaper is well read and valuable to our readers.
If you're thinking about the November election already and want to write a letter to the editor, keep this in mind: There's only eight months left.
Commentary on 03/01/2020