Letter from the Editor: We’re working to inform voters before local elections

There's an election coming up, have you heard?

It's hard to escape the ubiquitous ads and appeals from candidates and campaigns, but when ballots go out by mail Oct. 16 in Oregon, The Oregonian/OregonLive's newsroom is here to help.

Journalism is enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution because the nation's founders knew the fledgling democracy would not survive without a free and robust press to inform citizens. Independent reporting would hold government accountable to the people, their thinking was, and that remains a core principle of our work today.

The journalists at The Oregonian/OregonLive take this mission very seriously and devote countless hours to reporting on elections. No newsroom has endless resources, so we must make choices about what gets our attention. In addition to our planned coverage, there are always unforeseen events or discoveries along the way.

We've gathered all our election preview coverage in one place: oregonlive.com/politics/election-preview/.

This fall, Portland's new ranked choice voting system is a no-brainer for extensive coverage. It is all new, and the results are consequential for the city's future. City Hall reporter Shane Dixon Kavanaugh wrote a four-part series explaining the intricacies of the changes. You can find our coverage at oregonlive.com/topic/Portland-government.

Additionally, our newsroom partnered with Oregon Public Broadcasting's newsroom to tackle the larger than usual number of candidates for mayor and the newly expanded Portland City Council under the charter changes.

To inform readers, we typically check the backgrounds of candidates, looking at things we think might be pertinent to voters: do they pay their property taxes, do they vote, do they have a criminal record, etc.

It was those routine checks that turned up public records of 150 parking and traffic citations, as well as a half-dozen license suspensions, for mayoral candidate Carmen Rubio. (Another hopeful, Rene Gonzalez, also had some speeding tickets from the past, reporters found.)

In this election, we and OPB shared the responsibility for vetting candidates and collaborated on an extensive questionnaire.

"Journalists at The Oregonian/OregonLive and Oregon Public Broadcasting share a goal of ensuring that Portland voters have the information they need to make informed choices, and we also know candidates' time is valuable and limited," a note to readers said.

"That's why the two news organizations teamed up this cycle to solicit Portland City Council candidates' perspectives on the big issues in this election."

The questions covered such things as how they would address the city's unsheltered population, what their funding priorities would be and what professional and educational background they had.

Along with the Q&A, our data team created an interactive map that helps Portland residents figure out who is running in each district. You can enter an address and find your slate of candidates.

That's where you will find the answers from the candidates to our questionnaire. People who are interested in certain topics, such as homelessness or public safety, can click on those links to learn more about the candidates' views on those issues. Find it here: gov.oregonlive.com/election/portland-city-council/map.

It's a slick tool, and I hope many readers take advantage of the information there. A lot of work went into the compilation. Reporters and editors identified the key issues, wrote the questions, contacted each campaign, compiled the results and, importantly, fact checked the answers.

You can also find posts on all of the candidates who returned the completed questionnaire at oregonlive.com/editors.

Members of The Oregonian/OregonLive newsroom attended background training sessions on ranked choice voting held by the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication and by Multnomah County Elections Division. It's new to us, too, so we needed to make certain we fully understood it in order to accurately describe for voters.

Video editor Teresa Mahoney used donuts to explain the new system in a creative and mouth-watering way. Watch at .

Also, The Oregonian/OregonLive is continuing our long partnership with KGW(8) in co-sponsoring a debate in the Portland mayor's race. It will air live at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 15 on the station and on OregonLive. Anchor David Molko and Kavanaugh will question the invited candidates.

Around the state, we've written on congressional races and statewide ballot measures. Legislative coverage will be limited but we are publishing a selection of s from the Oregon Capital Chronicle, an independent, nonprofit news site.

Separately, The Oregonian/OregonLive Editorial Board issues endorsements in select races. You can find endorsements at oregonlive.com/topic/endorsements/.

As I've said in the past, some readers find the board's endorsements a handy cheat sheet to vote the opposite way. But, in all seriousness, we know many readers find the board's research and reasoning helpful.

On Election Day, as always, we begin publishing results as of 8 p.m. Nov. 5. The night the first vote counts are released is pretty much an all-hands-on-deck situation in most newsrooms. Everyone but the sports staff typically is tapped for a role, fueled by multiple slices of pizza.

I hope you join us at oregonlive.com.