OPINION: As election nears, deadlines pass but coverage of races ramps up

Published 12:28 pm Thursday, October 25, 2018

With less than two weeks until election day, many of the deadlines to submit election-related content to The Sun have passed.

Monday night marked the deadline for questionnaires responses to be submitted for our Meet the Candidates special section.

The vast majority of candidates in opposed races submitted thoughtful responses to questions like “Do you think Winchester-Clark County’s business community is healthy and successful? If so, how would you plan to preserve that? If not, what would you do to improve the business climate in our community?” and “How do you plan to involve more residents in the decision-making process in our town or at the state level?” among others.

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That special section will insert in the weekend edition.

Additionally, Tuesday marked the last day The Sun will accept letters to the editor endorsing candidates.

Our policy states, “Letters to the editor from supporters or endorsing a candidate must be received at least two weeks prior to a primary or general election and we will cease publishing all letters at least one week prior to the election.”

So, you may still see some letters or commentary that were received according to the deadline run this week.

Just because deadlines for submissions have passed does not mean coverage of the election will cease.

The Sun staff continues to beef up our election coverage year-to-year.

The candidates forums are still available for viewing at Facebook.com/Winchester Sun.

In today’s edition, you will find a Q&A with state representative candidates Pat Banks (D-Richmond) and Les Yates (R-Winchester), which is the last of a series of Q&As we did with state- and federal-level candidates. The Q&As with state senate candidates Ralph Alvarado (R-Winchester) and Denise Gray (D-Lexington) and U.S. representative candidates Andy Barr (R-Lexington) and Amy McGrath (D-Georgetown) can be found at winchestersun.com.

On election night, The Sun staff will be livestreaming results as they come in at the Clark County Courthouse. We will also be updating an election results post on our Facebook page and will have next-day coverage of the election in our printed edition.

Deadlines have passed, but there is still a plethora of election-related information and content coming your way over the next two weeks.