NWA EDITORIAL: It's almost here!

Have you heard? An election is right around the corner.

The Nov. 3 general election is bound to be the "most important election of our lifetimes," because that label is sooner or later placed on every presidential contest and sometimes on the decisions to be made at the polls in nonpresidential cycles.

The reality is the most important election is always the one dead ahead, regardless of who's running or which offices need to be filled. That's because the structures of national, state and local governments in the United States don't lend themselves to hard and sudden turns of the ship of state. America isn't a game of Battleship, in which the ships can only go up and down or side to side. Real and lasting change happens over the course of years, with every election nudging the country a little one direction or the other.

It's the long game -- not Battleship, but influencing the direction of the nation. The hard-core political operatives are hard at work at all levels of political office because they recognize a single man or woman in the Oval Office has limited room to maneuver unless like-minded people are wielding influence in city halls, in county courthouse, in state capitols and, of course, in the halls of Congress.

With less than a week left before casting of votes concludes, election officials tally the results and Americans wait to learn the outcome of this covid-affected campaign by the best two geriatric presidential candidates Democrats and Republicans apparently have to offer, it's vital for Arkansas who haven't yet voted to look down their ballots to the many, many contests they might or might not have considered. With all the noise at the presidential level and no statewide contest in serious question, these are the races that might get lost. We've all seen them before -- races we realize are on our ballots while we're standing at the voting machine and wish we'd have done more homework.

Naturally, we recommend a visit online to www.nwaonline.com/nwavote, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's resource dedicated to Election 2020. Stories, a list of candidates, voter information and other materials found there are a trove of information from the presidency down to the local city council in Benton and Washington counties.

Voters who aren't certain about what will appear on their ballots can also visit www.voterview.ar-nova.org, the Arkansas secretary of state's election information tool. By entering one's name and birth date, Voterview provides access to a sample ballot specific to the voter's address so it's easy to see exactly what to expect before it's time to check those boxes for real.

We'd also recommend a visit to ballot, a site maintained by the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service to provide clear, accurate information about the state issues that will appear on everyone's ballot. It's information that doesn't advocate for a "for" or "against" vote. It just lays out the details of what's proposed, how the issue reached the ballot and which groups are actively campaigning for or against each proposal.

Those issues include the three measures put on the ballot by state lawmakers: a proposed highway tax, a measure to loosen limits on how many terms state legislators can serve and a change to the constitution that would make it harder to get citizen-initiated laws, constitutional amendments and referenda on an election ballot. It even details how issues 4, 5 and six were removed from the ballot and why Issue 6 might still appear on ballots, but any votes won't be counted.

Hear legislative, mayoral candidates

We'd be pleased as punch if readers from Benton and Washington counties visited https://www.nwaonline.com/vote/candidateinterview. All candidates for the Arkansas General Assembly whose districts are primarily or largely within the boundaries of the two counties were invited to join Editorial Page Editor Greg Harton and Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editor Rusty Turner for interviews. Readers can listen to full interviews with Arkansas House candidates Charlene Fite and Lou Reed Sharp of District 80; David Whitaker of District 85; Nicole Clowney of District 86: Robin Lundstrum and Michael Bennett-Spears of District 87; Hawley Woods of District 88; Megan Godfrey of District 89; Kelly Krout of District 90; Delia Haak of District 91; Daisy Bonilla of District 93; John Carr and Jené Huffman-Gilreath of District 94; and Josh Bryant and Jon Comstock of District 96.

For the Arkansas Senate, the interviews include Ronetta Francis of District 1 and Jim Hendren of District 2.

Is that everyone running? No. Some candidates declined our invitations. A couple appeared to have filed for office then immediately crawled under rocks until the election is over and never responded to our emails or phone calls. It's up to voters to decide how they feel about those situations, but we certainly appreciate those candidates who made themselves available for our questions and encourage voters to hear them out.

Three of the four candidates for Fayetteville mayor -- William Harris, Lioneld Jordan and Tom Terminella -- also participated in our interviews, so Fayetteville voters should check those out.

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Election 2020 is coming around the final turn and headed for the finish line. Thousands have already cast votes through absentee ballots or early voting, which continues all this week, plus Saturday and Monday at some locations.

Some folks are procrastinators. Some just prefer to vote on Election Day or close to it. It doesn't matter so much which method one choses as it does to commit to voting and making a plan to make it happen. Tools to learn about candidates and issues are easier to access than ever, but time's wasting.