The election season is upon us. In under a month, voters will head to the polls in LaGrange, West Point and Hogansville to cast votes that will impact each of the three communities. Although I’m writing it later than I’d like, I think it’s important to detail how the LaGrange Daily News plans to cover the election.

We’ve already written about two political forums — one in Hogansville and one in LaGrange — and will cover Thursday night’s LaGrange forum at Del’avant as well, along with next week’s in West Point.

As the election gets closer, reporters will also write stories on each specific political contest, giving each candidate a chance to discuss why they are running for office and what they plan to do if elected. The LDN also plans to write stories on the upcoming SPLOST vote.

In our reporting, we will list facts, not opinions, and will be fair in reporting both sides.

The LDN will allow candidates who have qualified for political office in Troup County to submit a political announcement and photo to be published by the end of October.

The announcement will give the candidate a chance to tell the community why he or she is running for office, but it must be 300 words or less. The announcement will be published at the bottom of page 1A on a day before the end of this month.

The LDN staff will edit the announcement for style, clarity, grammar and length.

The announcement should discuss biographical information, experience, qualifications and platform issues. A photo should be included but is not a requirement.

Letters to the editor are also welcome from the community, discussing the upcoming races. Anyone who writes a letter is invited to talk about why they support a candidate, but should not speak poorly of other candidates. We will not publish letters that criticize another candidate.

Letters will also only be published when they contain provable facts and character opinions.  They must include a name, address and phone number so they can be verified. No candidate running for political office will be allowed to write a column during the election season.

If you have any questions regarding these policies, call me at (706) 407-2659 or email Daniel.evans@lagrangenews.com.