Voter guide provided too little guidance

I was disappointed with The State’s voter guide, published on primary day. Voter guides should be published sooner, and this one was pretty thin. It did a decent job on the gubernatorial candidates, then glossed over almost every other race. And the questions presented by both parties were only substantially mentioned in the opinion section.

I wonder how many Republican voters, who by a vast majority said they supported the state going into conformity with the Trump tax cuts, realize that instead of lowering the overall tax burden on S.C. taxpayers as the question suggests, they’re suggesting increasing it by $246 million, primarily on the middle class (while lowering it on businesses and the rich). That figure is from the Jan. 29 report of the S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, hardly a partisan organization,

An informed citizen who votes is a vital part to our democracy. It’s our duty as voters to research the issues, but it’s also a vital function of the press to provide information, pro and con.

The State publishes a cross section of the letters we receive from South Carolinians in order to provide a forum for our community and also to allow our community to get a good look at itself, for good or bad. The letters represent the views of the letter writers, not necessarily of The State.

This story was originally published June 23, 2018 at 7:11 AM.