We welcome political letters, but follow the rules

If you’re interested in throwing in your hat for an elected position this year, the time is nearing to make a move. The deadline to file is about a month away, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, for the June 28 primary.

It promises to be a heavy ballot this time around. Along with the usual every-other-year race for the District 5 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, long held by incumbent Democrat Steny Hoyer (who already has one Republican and one Democratic challenger), there will be many state and local seats up for grabs.

At the state level, everything from governor, comptroller and attorney general to our state senators and delegates will be on the ballot. Local races will include commissioners, sheriffs, state’s attorneys, school board members and others in Charles, St. Mary’s and Calvert counties.

With the ballots being set next month, we figured this would be a good time to remind our readers of our policy regarding letters to the editor.

During the election campaign, Southern Maryland News will not print letters from candidates themselves commenting on the issues or stating positions. Those are nothing more than campaign advertisements, but we would happily accommodate you by directing you to our advertising department.

Exceptions are when a candidate is replying to editorial criticism from Southern Maryland News, disputing news reporting or replying to an inaccurate attack from another letter writer. Even then, such letters of reply may be printed at the sole discretion of the editor. The word limit on those letters is the same for all letters on this page: 600 words. That length should be sufficient to get your point across.

Another exception to letters from candidates is if the candidate has absolutely no opposition in this year’s campaign cycle, even through to the Nov. 8 general election. Since they are guaranteed to be re-elected, they have a looser rein on them regarding our policy. However, if a completely unopposed candidate should submit a political letter endorsing or criticizing another candidate in a race for another office, that writer would be held to the same standard as any other citizen letter writer.

Indeed, we welcome letters from all readers as the political process plays out. If you support a candidate — local or statewide — we want to hear from you. If you oppose a candidate, we want to hear from you. If you have ideas about how to improve the system, we want to hear from you.

Just email your letter to letters@ somdnews.com and we’ll take it from there. You could also send your letter by U.S. mail or fax, or drop it off in person at our office (see the box at the bottom of this page for details). Honestly, we would greatly prefer letters to be emailed, because letters submitted on paper instead of electronically must be retyped by us, and mistakes could happen. So if you have access to a computer, please email us.

By whatever means you choose to submit a letter, all of the usual rules apply. Your letter must include your name, town of residence and phone number. Your phone number won’t be published, though; it’s just for verification. While 600 words mark the limit for letters, know that if your submission is somewhat shorter than that, it stands the chance of getting printed sooner, since we can fit more short letters on a page.

Also, you may be asked by the editor if you are related by blood or marriage to the candidate about whom you are writing, or if you are working for the candidate’s campaign. Of course, that doesn’t disqualify the letter from being published, nor does it move it up in line for consideration. We’re doing this in the interest of full disclosure, and if you’re the candidate’s brother-in-law or grandmother, that will be published after your name and town of residence at the end of the letter. Transparency and clarity are what we’re after here. It’s only fair to all concerned.

Letter writers are generally restricted to one published submission a month. And as always, we reserve the right to edit or reject all letters. In addition to publication in print, all accepted letters will be posted on our website at www. somdnews.com.

So feel free to write us and express yourself about candidates — just play by the rules.