Suburbs

Early voting for the Nov. 8 municipal elections in the suburbs (and other places) begins next Wednesday. And next week, we will begin providing candidate profiles for many of the races in Germantown, Collierville, Millington and Bartlett, along with Lakeland.

Things have changed over the years. Some time ago — in the days before early voting was a thing — we would have built our coverage towards Election Day and presented the stories featuring the candidates closer to Nov. 8. That was when people went to the polls on a specified date and pulled the lever for the candidates of their choice.

But early voting has changed that, for news outlets and those campaigning for office.

Now the strategy must focus more on getting your major points across before early voting starts. More people are taking advantage of the multiple days — and multiple sites — to cast their vote, making Election Day more for the traditionalists and those who simply claim they couldn’t find the time to stop by an early voting location.

Waiting to make a strong campaign point during the first week of November may have an impact on some voters, but not near as many as the old days. A last-minute strategy will miss a large percentage of voters who have already voted before the hopeful made their point.

We plan on getting out those profiles next week, so readers will have some information on the candidates. Just who they are. No endorsements. No recommendations. No backing on our part. Because frankly, an endorsement from a publication can be the death toll to a campaign.

On another subject — and this comes up just about every election — we won’t be writing any stories about a candidate’s complaint that their yard signs are being stolen, torn down, vandalized, or ended up with a Sharpie-style mustache and bug eyes drawn on it.

Sign vandalism is as much a part of campaigning as handing out push cards, going door-to-door or having fundraisers. Maybe not as beneficial to a candidate as the previous examples, but still a routine part of running for office.

So, we are not going to get into the showdown between candidates who think their opponent is sabotaging their yard signs.

I will add that there is one exception: a video of the opponent ripping your sign out of the ground.

Just ask former state rep Curry Todd.

Back in 2016, Todd was running for reelection in District 95 that includes Collierville. It was a contentious race, and Todd was losing his hold on the office against challenger Mark Lovell. So, Todd went out and gathered up Lovell signs along Winchester. We know this because video emerged of Todd with an armload of Lovell campaign signs under his arm.

Todd was arrested, charged with misdemeanor theft and lost the race to Lovell. The charges eventually were dismissed about a year later when Lovell didn’t show up for court to press the matter.

But that was the exception to the campaign sign coverage rule.

So, if you want to file a complaint and get publicity about such a tactic, make sure you have video of your opponent uprooting your yard signs and carrying them away. - Suburbs editor Clay Bailey

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