There are a few things in the last couple of Faribault County Register issues which need a little bit more of an explanation, I feel.

So, I will attempt my best to explain them, although to be honest, I don’t always understand what is going on either.

First off are the elections we will be having on Tuesday, Aug. 9. Yes, that is elections, plural, with an “s.”

One is a Special Election to elect a temporary U.S. Congressman to fill in the term of Jim Hagedorn.

You have a choice of a Republican, Brad Finstad, a Democrat, Jeff Ettinger, or two marijuana party candidates.

Whoever gets the most votes on Aug. 9 will become our U.S. Congressman from Aug. 9 until Jan. 3. So, that is why I have been referring to it as a “temp” job.

The other election is the State Partisan Primary Ballot. This is where we get to choose who will move on to the General Election Ballot on Nov. 8.

This is the ballot where you will be warned by the election judges to only cast votes in one column. Each column is for a particular political party.

In other words, if you vote for a Republican candidate for one office, you must vote just for Republican candidates in all the other offices. You can’t switch parties. That is why it is called a partisan ballot.

On this ballot in the U.S. Congressional category, if you are a Republican voter, you will see Republican candidate Brad Finstad’s name again, along with Jeremy Munson’s name.

In theory, you could have marked Brad Finstad’s name on the Special Election ballot for the congressional “temp” job, but vote for Jeremy Munson as your choice to be on the Nov. 8 General Election ballot for the “permanent” congressional job.

Ditto for the Democrats. While Jeff Ettinger is the only DFL name on the Special Election ballot for the “temp” job, he is facing two other DFL candidates, James Rainwater and George H. Kalberer, on the Partisan Primary Ballot for the right to be on the Nov. 8 ballot for the “permanent” job.

So once again, a DFL voter could vote for Ettinger for the “temp” job, and Rainwater or Kalberer for the “permanent” job.

Got it? I hope so.

Granted, the smart money would go with both Finstad and Ettinger, who are vying for the “temp” job, who will also be the leading contenders to be the GOP and DFLers selected in the Primary Ballot Aug. 9, to contend again in November for the “permanent” congressional seat.

And, the smart money would also go with whoever is the winner of the “temp” job on Aug. 9, being the person to win on Nov. 8 and to get the “permanent” job.

But, this is politics, and it has been proven time and again that anything can happen.

Take Dewey defeating Truman, for example. You can Google it, if you want to know what that was about.

Next item up to clarify is the story about the filing period for local elections.

Yes, from Aug. 2 to Aug. 16 you can file to run for city council, town board, school board, hospital board and other boards. Check out the legals in the past couple of Registers for more information on filing.

There is nothing really too confusing about this filing period, other than perhaps the question of why there are five of the six seats on the Blue Earth City Council open at the same time?

Yes, it is usually only three open seats each election, but there are two other seats that were appointed to fill out terms, and they need to be run for election now.

The confusing part, someone recently asked about, was why the filings for county board were earlier in the year, and the school board and city council ones are now.

The answer is basically that county offices are subject to be on a primary ballot, cities and school districts, etc., are not. I am not sure exactly why.

So if more than two folks file to run for a county position, like a county commissioner seat, they all have to be on the primary ballot.

That is just what is happening in Commissioner District 4. Three people filed, so they will face off Aug. 9 to see which two will then be on the General Election ballot on Nov. 8.

But for entities such as city councils and school boards, any number of folks can file and all will be on the ballot come November.

Hopefully, there are folks who will file. We have heard from some council members and school board members that they may not file to run again.

Item No. 3. In last week’s issue of the Register, we listed our new political letters to the editor policy, for during the election season.

The policy is that we, like many other newspapers, are going to charge to run letters which are candidate endorsement letters. Newspapers often are inundated with these types of letters to the editor, which are sometimes orchestrated by candidates or political parties committees.

Many newspapers have tried to treat these types of letters as political advertising in the past, because in actuality, that is precisely what they are.

So, beginning this election season, we have also instituted the paid political letter to the editor policy.

The rules for the letters are the same as our rules for other letters to the editor, which include a signature, city of residence and not being libelous or defamatory.

The charge for the letters is $30 for 300 words or less. Longer letters will be charged at the Register‘s regular advertising per column inch rate.

And, as we have always tried to do, political letters will not be run the week before the election. This is to ensure that anyone wishing to submit a rebuttal letter or opposing response will be able to do so before the last issue before the election.

As with all letters to the editor, they can be submitted to me at chunt@faribaultcountyregister.com, mailed in, or dropped off at our office in person.

Once again, letters need to be signed. We need your phone number and email just to verify the letter, and that information will not be published.

We do appreciate letters to the editor. However, we do have certain rules we need to follow in order to publish them, so we reserve the right to print letters or not.

I sure hope this clarifies a thing or two. Or at least, does not muddy the water anymore than it already is.