’Tis the season

So that means the field of local candidates and measures was largely set on Aug. 12, but completely solidified by Aug. 17.

However, Labor Day is seen as the semi-official kickoff to election season because it’s the unofficial end of summer, but even that is changing since school seems to be starting earlier and earlier.

And for some candidates competing in the June primary, election season kicked off this past spring with a winnowing down of candidates to the top two after the primary. That holds true for federal and state offices and also San Mateo County supervisor, though candidates for supervisor don’t have to run in the general election in November if they get more than 50 percent of the vote. That is the case for Dave Pine in District 1 and Warren Slocum in District 4 since they ran without an opponent. However, in District 5, incumbent Adrienne Tissier is termed out so the two highest vote getters to replace her, David Canepa and Mike Guingona, will be running against each other until Election Day, Nov. 8. Canepa had 45.7 percent of the vote to Guingona’s 21.7 percent on the June 7 primary.

Then there are also ballot measures. The deadline for those is Aug. 12, but there are also deadlines for arguments for and against and also rebuttals to those arguments. The day for all those to become official is Sept. 8, just a few days after Labor Day.

If the semi-official start of the campaign is after Labor Day, that means there will be a lot concentrated between Sept. 6 and Oct. 10, because after that is when mail ballots are issued and sort of the kickoff of the voting season. That’s a very small hole for not only candidates, but also voters trying to determine who may be the best for particular offices.

In the middle of all this, we at the Daily Journal will be holding our editorial endorsement interviews for candidates and measures in our coverage area. I’ve counted 13 separate elections we will be covering and weighing in on, so we will have to move quickly to thread that needle. They include health care boards, school boards, sales taxes, school bonds, school parcel taxes, rent control in two cities, a city charter change, the Harbor District and a City Council. Our first interviews start next week and will continue until late October. So if you are a candidate for office or a proponent or opponent of a measure, don’t worry, we will get to you as soon as we can. In the meantime, please note we do not accept guest perspectives from candidates for political office or from opponents or proponents of particular measures or candidates during this time. We do, however, accept letters to the editor of about 250 words so feel free to send those.

And also weighing on voters’ minds will be the 17 propositions on the state ballot ranging from marijuana legalization and gun control to condoms in porn and tobacco taxes with some death penalty and plastic bag issues for good measure. And on top of all that, there is the presidential race to consider, though I suspect many of you have nearly made up your minds about that one. Funny how that one seems to get much of the attention.

Jon Mays is the editor in chief of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at jon@smdailyjournal.com. Follow Jon on Twitter @jonmays.