Election time: Readers' opinions need to be heard

Frontiersman editorial board

Does your local newspaper show bias? Of course, it does. On any given issue, the newspaper, and everyone who works in its offices have biases and opinions. The newspaper's opinion appears in the space you're reading right now. This editorial represents the opinion of this newspaper. When an individual employee of the newspaper has an opinion, it will appear in an editorial column. It will display the writer's name and, most likely, a photo.

The opinion pages are also a place for readers to express their opinions -- whether they are the same as the newspaper's opinion or not. It's a place for the free exchange of ideas. To that end, the Frontiersman makes every attempt to maintain fairness and balance on its opinion pages.

We require all letter and Spectrum writers to provide their name and a phone number for confirmation. We print confirmed letters and Spectrums in the order they were received, with a few exceptions. Election time is one of the most challenging times for us. The first-come-first-served rule is suspended during political campaigns so that the large influx of election-related letters and Spectrums can be printed before the pre-election cut-off -- one week prior to election day.

In terms of fairness to the candidates, the Frontiersman does not endorsed any candidate in any race. It's not our policy to do so. We have a strong belief that our primary role in the overall body of the newspaper is to provide accurate and complete information that empowers our readers to make better decisions for our community.

The function of the Opinion page is to present a forum where all readers can share their ideas an opinions, and that exchange of information is also a critical function of the newspaper. As the primary election approaches, we will strive to publish all letters in support of, or in opposition to, each candidate. We will begin publishing letters again when the general election campaign cycle begins. Each candidate is allowed to publish one campaign-related Spectrum, and as many letters as they wish.

We wish the best of luck to all candidates, and we encourage every eligible voter to get involved in this critical election.