We are less than

We are less than two weeks away from primary election day in Minnesota. On August 2, voters will go to the polls for what are actually two separate elections if you live in the 1st Congressional District. A special primary will be held to choose an individual to serve out the remainder of the term of Rep. Jim Hagedorn who died earlier this year. The second primary will be the statewide vote which will choose candidates running for state and national offices in the November General Election.
When the primary results are in, the race to the November vote will be in full swing. The general election will be not only be for state and national races but also local races for city councils and school boards.
Candidates will be out meeting the voters who will be forming their opinions. And many of those opinions will be strongly held.
Elections do, and should, also generate letters to the editor.
The Dodge County Independent wants to hear from you, the residents of our communities, this election season. One of the reasons newspaper opinion pages exist is to give readers, all readers, a chance to voice their opinions.
With that in mind, know that the DCI Opinion page is a place for voters of all political viewpoints to express their opinion on issues and candidates.
We do, however, have a number of guidelines for all letters, including those about candidates and issues.
Please keep those letters to a reasonable length, 300 words works well. Also, stay with the issue you are addressing.
Go ahead and support your candidate but stick to the candidate and the issues. Do not veer into personal attacks on either the candidate or their supporters. Keep your letter positive and tell why Candidate A is a good choice, not why Candidate B is a jerk. And we want letters that you have written, not letters that were written by a group or supporters of a person or issue and then distributed for writers to send to their local newspaper under their own name.
Please include your name, where you live and phone number or email with the letter. Only your name and the city you live in will be published. The phone number and email address are only for use by us if we need to contact you.
Letters can be mailed to the DCI office at 301 S. Mantorville Ave., Suite 200, Kasson, MN 55944; delivered in person  to our office or emailed to the editor at editordci@kmtel.com.
Every citizen in a democracy has a right, even a responsibility, to take an active role. One way is to make your opinion known to others.
And don’t forget, we want to get letters on other topics besides the politics. Feel free to write us on any subject.
We look forward to hearing from you.