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On Wednesday, the paper will publish an N&O poll showing how the bond issue is doing among voters. Then, on Oct. 29, says Wake County Editor Holly Stepp, there'll be a full-page "cheat sheet" on the bonds. "If you haven't been paying attention and you're looking for something to tell you everything you need to know to vote, that will be it," she said.

A couple of readers have asked me when The N&O will run a Voters Guide giving a rundown on all the elections on the ballot. The paper traditionally publishes it the Saturday before the election, figuring that voters aren't paying attention until then, and this year's edition comes out Nov. 4. But with the advent of early voting, which allows voters to cast absentee ballots at polling places before the election, there is increasing demand by readers to see the Guide sooner. To satisfy that, The N&O posted the Guide on the Web site last week (http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/elections/voters_guide/), in time for early voting that began last Thursday.

Krueger acknowledges that The N&O is running behind on its election coverage this fall -- largely because his staff was consumed by the Kevin Geddings trial coverage for four weeks. Still, the paper in October had published 34 election stories, by my count, through Friday, not counting national election stories, not counting the paper's editorial endorsements. Much more will be coming in the next two weeks.

And that's what you should expect. Covering elections is the most elemental role of a newspaper, because it gives you the information you need to perform your role in a democracy.

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