For those who haven’t heard, there are elections in Oakland County on May 3.

That date is not the usual one for elections. Most people expect to head to the polls in August for primaries and in November for general elections.

But this May 3 there are a number of communities and school districts where voters should go to the polls. There’s even an election for county commissioner. The winner fills the partial term left open by Bill Bullard Jr. in District 2, when he became county clerk.

There’s a commissioner race in Bloomfield Hills, balloting proposals in Clawson, Ferndale and Hazel Park as well as school board contests in Lake Orion, Fenton and Goodrich, among other communities.

So, with each pending election, The Oakland Press Opinion Page letter policy kicks in.

It’s quite simple: Letters relating to the May 3 school elections must be received by Tuesday, April 19. Those received by then will be run Tuesday, April 26. Endorsement letters must be 150 words or less.

We have used this policy for the past several years because prior to its institution, we ran election-related letters up to and on the day of the election. That, however, caused problems. Basically, the issue involved “fairness,” something I frequently talk about in this blog.

People would purposely hold their letters until the last minute hoping to get them in on election day or just the day before. They, of course, took a chance the letter couldn’t get in at all but they took the risk. And many letters did “seem” to get the last word in on a candidate or ballot issue.

Of course, this drew complaints from readers whose letters appeared several days before the election or that couldn’t get in by election day.

The blanket complaint was that it “wasn’t fair.” Well, we agreed that, although it’s never been proven that getting the last word in on a ballot proposal swayed other voters, it didn’t seem fair to run a letter for or against an issue on election day.
So, we came up with this policy. We publicize it frequently on the Opinion Page several weeks before an election, although we still get complaints from people who say they didn’t know the policy.

Well, with all do respect, read the paper — the message is in, if not every day, then at least several times before the election.

By setting a deadline of two weeks before the election for letters, we normally can get in all of them in the few days after the deadline. And no letter will run on the day of the election or up to about a week before.

It seems like a “fair” policy. If someone has any suggestions for improving it, please let me know.