The best laid plans of mice, men and editorial boards … We’d hoped to use this space today to offer The Democrat’s endorsements in two important runoff elections taking place this Tuesday: Adams County District 5 supervisor and Adams County coroner.

But, in good conscience, we can’t do that because two candidates – one in each race – refused to meet with the editorial board.

And, in a commitment to fairness, we cannot adequately make an informed recommendation on either contest without being able to talk with, to listen to and to ask questions of all the candidates.

It’s a disappointing turn of events, more so for the community than for the newspaper’s editorial board members.

We view our role as a community newspaper as a critical one, and we take seriously our responsibility to provide information and a voice to hundreds, even thousands, of people throughout Adams County who have not had the opportunity meet one-on-one with these candidates.

And we view any elected official’s – or prospective elected official’s – accountability to those taxpayers and voters as an indisputable part of seeking public office.

So instead of offering our often-requested endorsements and justification of why we recommend those candidates, we will only encourage Adams County voters to go to the polls and cast their ballots again on Tuesday in the runoff election.

It’s your responsibility to voice your opinion and to demand public accountability from the people being elected.

It’s The Democrat’s responsibility – and commitment – to continue to pursue that accountability and provide the information you want in the community we serve.