In the coming months, residents of Luverne will visit the polls to elect those that will lead our community.

And while the municipal election isn’t until Aug. 23, some candidates have already begun to campaign. With that in mind, we felt the time was right to share how we will handle the lead up to the election.

Every candidate and his or her supporters will have the opportunity to purchase advertising in the newspaper to share his or her platforms with readers, but anything that is not paid political advertising will fall under one of the following policies.

Political announcements:

Every candidate who has qualified for office can submit a political announcement and photo to introduce himself or herself to the community. Qualifying begins July 5 and ends July 19.

We will publish one announcement for free as a public service.

Announcements must be 300 words or less and will primarily publish on page 2. Our staff may edit any announcement for style, clarity, grammar and length.

No announcements will be published the week prior to the election.  The deadline to submit an announcement and have it publish before the deadline is Aug. 9

An announcement can include biographical information, experience and qualifications and platform issues.

As a public service, candidates can schedule a time to have their photo taken at the Luverne Journal office for free. They can simply contact Beth Hyatt at beth.hyatt@greenvilleadvocate.com.

Letters to Editor:

Readers, including friends and family of the candidates, are invited to write letters to the editor about the upcoming race. We do ask that writers stick to the issues and avoid personal attacks.

We will not publish letters bashing another candidate or letters from the candidate themselves.

We will only publish letters containing provable facts, not speculation or untruths.

No letters regarding the election will be published the week of the election.

Columns:

No candidate running for office will be allowed to write a guest column or letters to the editor on any topic during the election season. Election season is defined as July 5 through any runoff elections.

If any candidate or supporters have questions about the policies listed above, they can contact Managing Editor Andy Brown or Publisher Tracy Salter at (334) 382-3111, or by email at andy.brown@greenvilleadvocate.com or tracy.salter@greenvilleadvocate.com.