THIS ISSUE: Less than 24 hours remain until voting in the 2012 state and presidential elections. Students may wonder why the College Heights Herald hasn’t yet endorsed any candidates for this year’s races.

OUR STANCE: The Herald firmly believes our job is to inform students of the news, not convince students who to vote for.

As the Herald makes preparations to cover Tuesday’s presidential elections from a local perspective on WKU’s campus, our office has been abuzz with as much excitement as we believe students have. As a paper that started a weekly political page — CHH Politics — with the aim of educating readers on some of the most pressing matters of these elections, we understand the power and importance of voting.

What we don’t want to do is make explicit what button we want students to push at their respective polling place.

Put simply, the Herald is here to inform and (through editorial space) encourage students to vote — not who to vote for.

We believe voting is a deeply personal act, and each person has different beliefs and hopes for who they want to lead their state or nation. By the Herald endorsing a candidate, we would be saying that we believe our readers should vote for said candidate because of X amount of reasons.

And as journalists, that crosses the line between being objective and unbiased.

We are here to give the news and facts — facts that will ultimately allow readers to come to their own conclusions. While many national and collegiate newspapers do endorse candidates and adequately utilize their editorial space to do so, the Herald has decided we will not do the same.  Just as we strive to be impartial in our reporting, we will remain impartial on who we believe is the best candidate to lead America.

With less than a day left until the election, we urge students to head to the polls and take part in the biggest democratic act our country has.

We hope you read CHH Politics and will come to a decision that you are comfortable with, just don’t look to the Herald to give you the answer.