As we head into a pivotal election, The Beacon is filling a crucial gap in local journalism. We’ve assembled a pop-up election bureau with some of the city’s most respected journalists to ensure our community has access to the comprehensive, reliable election coverage it needs.Chris Lester and Mary Sanchez are joining us for this important initiative.Lester, serving as managing editor for our pop-up bureau, brings a wealth of experience from his time at Kansas City PBS and The Kansas City Star, where he was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and a Gerald Loeb Award winner. Chris is passionate about expanding the media’s role in community engagement and education. That fits seamlessly with The Beacon’s mission. Lester will join our editor-in-chief in elevating our election coverage, ensuring it is both comprehensive and impactful.Sanchez, a nationally syndicated columnist, brings a long history of reporting on race, class, criminal justice and education in Kansas City. Her deep understanding of these topics makes her an invaluable asset to The Beacon during this critical time.Scott Canon, The Beacon’s editor-in-chief and another veteran journalist, will work alongside Chris and Mary to helm our election coverage. Scott’s broad reporting and editing experience, including his leadership of the Kansas News Service, ensures that The Beacon remains a trusted source of information as we expand our reach and impact.To strengthen our efforts, we’re working with the Associated Press to deliver real-time general election results for our readers. You can find examples of this coverage from the Kansas and Missouri primaries. Our pop-up election bureau also supports our election coverage in Wichita, ensuring that people in both Kansas City and Wichita have the critical information they need as they head to the polls.The Beacon is also collaborating with the Kansas City Media Collective to produce the most comprehensive voter guide our market has seen, making it free to all publications in the area. This guide will deliver nonpartisan information to help voters navigate their choices. All Beacon articles are available for anyone to republish, allowing our election coverage to reach the widest possible audience.“This is our moment to step up,” said Stephanie Campbell, CEO of The Beacon. “The Beacon is fully committed to making sure voters fully understand the choices on their ballots. It’s too important to put that sort of reporting behind a paywall.”As we gear up for the general election, we’re proud to provide Kansas City and Wichita residents with the information they need, when they need it. It’s the definition of journalism as public service.Stay tuned for more updates and meet the journalists who are making it all happen. We’ll share their stories, photos and insights as we head toward November.The post A critical moment for election coverage at The Beacon appeared first on The Beacon.