Is there an election coming up? Must be, judging by the number of political letters to the editor lately.

Anybody reading these letters must think that campaigns bring out the worst in some people.

These people may be perfectly considerate and truthful as a matter of everyday life. But when it comes to writing a letter about electoral politics, they become strident, angry, polemical, intolerant, prone to exaggeration or leaving out pertinent details, and sometimes downright mean.

It’s hard to see what justifies such a change. Maybe it’s misplaced passion — misplaced because the country and civilization survived many other elections and no doubt will survive again no matter what happens the next time voters have their say.

At the Democrat-Herald, the number of election letters received so far has exceeded the number we’ve been able to print.

In picking the ones that get in the paper, I go for the ones that say something that hasn’t been said a hundred times before, although this isn’t always possible.

By now I’m pretty sure we have set up a category for “election letters” under the opinion section at democrat

herald.com. That’s the place where we hope to post election-related letters that don’t get in the paper.

Election letters can be useful in informing voters, especially when they deal with local issues or candidates in terms of real events, votes taken and decisions made.

Sometimes, though, such letters make statements or complaints about matters that are not on the public record, were not prominently reported or happened so long ago that nobody remembers just what the circumstances were.

Here’s what I do with such letters in the interest of fairness: I e-mail copies to the public official or candidate being accused or complained about by name, giving the person a chance to respond at the same time the letter appears.

I’ve had occasions to do this with two letters regarding candidates for Albany City Council, and any other submissions of that sort will be handled the same way.

Not all complaints about someone fall in the category where an immediate response is necessary. If a letter writer complains about somebody’s vote or statement as reported in the paper, there’s less need to explain right away, and the persons affected can write responses as time allows, if they wish.

While we’re on letters, please do me a favor. Write them by e-mail to the address given for letters, and write them in the e-mail itself, not as an attachment.

Opening attachments takes an inordinate amount of time while our computers scan them for viruses. When there are scores of e-mails waiting to be opened, it tests a man’s patience to sit there twiddling his thumbs while the computer makes up its mind about an attachment.

In an author’s note following his novels, a popular fiction writer says that he never opens attachments but deletes any e-mail that contains one. It’s a tempting solution, I can tell you that.

The editor can be reached by e-mail at hhering@dhonline.com, or by phone at 812-6097.