The Breeze is committed to providing abundant election coverage, particularly for the Cape Coral City Council races.

To that end, we began last week with an introduction of the candidates and move this week into our issue-related “Questions of the Week.” We present these graph style by City Council seat so that voters may easily familiarize themselves with each candidate’s position on key issues.

Candidate bios, and all of the Questions of the Week, also will be published online at capecoralbreeze.com.

The Breeze will report en route to the Aug. 23 Primary, which will decide who will advance to the General Election for Council seats 1 and 4, and the Nov. 8 General Election, which will add face-offs for mayor and Council seat 6 to the ballot.

We strive to be comprehensive, and we invite voters to read.

We will list the all-candidates-invited forums and any virtual and livestreamed forums received so that readers may hear directly from the people seeking to represent us for the next four years.

Information, factually presented, is important but so is meeting the person behind the photo, behind the text. Hearing them answer questions spontaneously often gives a whole new perspective. Trust us on this.

For those looking to meet — and greet — the candidates there is an opportunity next week

On Monday July 18, at 5:30 p.m., residents will be able to meet candidates at a Candidate HobNob to be hosted by the Chamber of Commerce of Cape Coral at Gulf Coast Village. The event is free and open to the public with registration requested at the chamber website, capecoralchamber.com. The chamber has invited city, county, state and federal candidates to take part.

Meanwhile, let us say thank you to those seeking to represent our community. We recognize that it’s a challenging — and often under appreciated — job.

On the city level, a thank you to:

District 1: Dr. Carol Rae Culliton, Jean Pierre Etcheverry Jr., Bill Steinke and Ally Warton.

District 4: Joshua B. Clark, Patty Cummings and Jennifer I. Nelson, incumbent.

The District 1 and 4 races will appear on the Aug. 23 Primary Election ballot with the top two voter getters in each race advancing to the General Election.

Thank you as well to:

District 6: Wayne Hecht and Keith Long, the incumbent.

Mayor: John Gunter, the incumbent, and Tom Shadrach.

The District 6 and mayoral race will appear on the Nov. 8 General Election ballot as will the District 1 and District 4 runoffs.

Let us thank, as well, the candidates seeking federal, state and county, office, including those who have stepped up to fill the Lee County Commission seat left vacant by the death of Commissioner Frank Mann.

Thank you to John Albion, Joseph Robert Gambino and Mike Greenwell, running the closed Republican primary to be held Aug. 23. The winner will face Democrat Matthew “Matt” Wood in November with Angela R. Chenaille qualifying as a write-in candidate.

Cape Coral traditionally has the best turnout in Lee County. So kudos again to Supervisor of Elections Tommy Doyle, who, upon taking office, looked at the abysmal voter turnout that plagued odd-year elections and opted to listen to municipal officials who had asked — and asked — for a return to those bigger ballots.

Another plus?

The switch back a couple of years ago also provided a cost savings to Cape taxpayers of nearly $500,000 in 2020 alone.

Early voting for the Aug. 23 Primary Election is set for Aug. 13-20.

Vote-by-mail ballots may be requested from the Supervisor of Election. Visit www.lee.vote to submit your request. Vote-by-mail ballot requests must be received by 5 p.m. on the Saturday 10 days prior to the election. In the case of the upcoming primary, the deadline is Aug. 13.

— Breeze editorial