This Tuesday voters will head to the polls to elect a new governor, fill seats local on governing bodies in Westfield, Garwood, Cranford and Clark, and choose representation to the State Assembly and Boards of Education in Scotch Plains, Fanwood, Clark and Cranford. Candidate statements, biographical information, advertisements and endorsements fill these pages. Now it’s up to you, the voter, to decide.

We’re not endorsing candidates, platforms or messages — you get enough of that from your friends, relatives, our media brethren and everyone you never met on social media. We firmly believe that our role is to lay out the facts, give the candidates space in which to tell you about their positions, and let you draw your own conclusions. We empower and implore you, the voters, to educate yourselves on the both the issues and the candidates and to make your own, well-informed decisions.

You might notice that we left a few local races off of our list – that’s because the candidates running for seats on the Fanwood Council, the Mountainside Council and the Garwood Board of Education are all running unopposed. And while we applaud those community members who continue to step up to fill these roles year after year, this is truly a sad state of affairs.

The public deserves a choice on the ballot. In Union County, for example, Republicans are vastly outnumbered in terms of voter registration, but that doesn’t stop the Party from putting together a slate of candidates to run for open seats on the Commissioner Board every year. We have seen these folks raise important issues and offer different perspectives throughout many election cycles, and even though it has been more than two decades since the last member of the GOP stepped down from the County dais, these conversations matter.

Choice and opposition are vital parts of the democratic process, and we hope that the voters in Mountainside, Fanwood and Garwood will get the chance to experience both the next time election season rolls around.

But even worse than an uncontested election is one where no one runs at all. Not a single petition was filed for two open seats on the New Providence Board of Education. While the Borough may be outside our coverage area, this is disturbing to say the least. We cannot help but wonder if the growing levels of political vitriol in this country have started to scare people off from running for office – even at the local level.

We welcome a robust debate, even when it may get intense or emotional. Debates over the future of our towns — development, fields, school curriculum, taxes and much more have been put forward in recent years by sincere and hardworking people on many sides of the issues. But a modicum of respect is warranted no matter how strongly our opinions may be held.

Remember that these candidates, especially those in the local races, are putting themselves and their ideas forward with the best of intentions, and that at the end of the day they will still be your neighbors, regardless of who wins.

There is no need to denigrate to personal attacks before or after the election. Much of what we see this time of year is appalling, to say the least. Keyboard warriors love to scream into the void of the internet but, by and large, they don’t seem to show up at Council and Board meetings, they don’t volunteer to solve problems in their communities and they rarely, if ever, offer up any actual solutions.

That said, if you truly despise the people running for office on the major party tickets (locally or up the food chain), do something about it. If you are party registered, start getting involved. Contact your Municipal Democrat or Republican organization, become a committeeperson, or run for office yourself. And if you don’t want to run for office, think about the smartest, most reasonable person you know — and do everything you can to encourage and support them to run. Yes, it’s a low- to no-paying, completely thankless job, but good people with a diversity of opinions and skill sets are needed to steward us to the future.

Until then, there are many ways to make your voice heard in next week’s election — mail-in ballots, drop-boxes, early voting and on Election Day. Vote! And good luck to all the candidates; win or lose, you all get credit for having run.