Column: For local election coverage, let us be your source

The OC Voice is a portion of the OC Report newsletter where local residents may have a platform to talk about local issues they care about. This week, Assistant City & State Editor Jamey Cross is breaking down all the 2019 election coverage you can expect to see from The Daily Tar Heel this fall. 

It's easy for me to be excited about November. 

I'll finally be able to comfortably wear the sweatshirts and leggings that fill my closet, campus will be accented with deep orange leaves and, of course, my grandmother's pumpkin pie will grace the Thanksgiving dinner table.

But, most importantly, November brings local elections, and that's what we're most looking forward to on the City & State desk. We've been gearing up to cover the Orange County municipal and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools elections since filing began in July, and we're so excited to share what we have planned. 

In July, we started our election coverage by compiling a list of each of the candidates who filed to run for office in Orange County. 

There are nine races in the county this November, and we'll start our coverage by introducing you to each of the candidates. For Chapel Hill Town Council, seven candidates will compete for one of the four seats available. Six candidates hope for one of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen's three available seats. Two candidates will fight to be Chapel Hill's next mayor. 

Carrboro, Hillsborough and Mebane will have single-candidate mayoral races. 

To introduce these candidates, we've arranged for many of them to participate in video interviews where we'll ask the candidates of each race the same questions and record their response. These videos are aimed at detailing each candidate's view on prominent issues in their respective towns.  

Candidates for Chapel Hill Town Council, Carrboro Board of Aldermen and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools have already begun filming their videos, and they'll go live on our YouTube channel and social media accounts in October, before early voting begins on Oct. 16. 

For greater Orange County elections, such as the Town of Hillsborough Board of Commissioners race, we plan to have in-depth, question-and-answer coverage, reporting what each candidate hopes to do in the role.

We'll also have extensive coverage on election night, getting results and reactions out to the community as quickly as we can. We plan to have reporters at candidate election night parties, reporting throughout the night. 

Post-election, our coverage will continue. Again, we'll keep asking elected officials difficult questions, and we'll work to make sure they don't forget the promises they made during their campaigns.

This year, the City & State desk is making a pointed effort to be more present in our community, and we're highlighting that coverage in our weekly newsletter, the OC Report. (You can subscribe below).

We're going to town meetings, school board meetings and community events. If you see us out and about, come talk to us. We want to be the news source that will serve the needs of our community.  

That effort will extend to our local election coverage. We'll report our findings to you. We'll make an effort to be at community forums and candidate events, and we'll give our community the information it needs to cast an informed vote in November.  

So, come to us first. Let us be your source for the most timely news you'll need to know about this year's Orange County Elections. 

It's what we're here for.

@jameybcross

city@dailytarheel.com