After arguably being a bit harsh on New Hampshire candidates in my last blog item over their general unwillingness to detail their issue positions through Project Vote Smart's National Political Awareness Test, I thought it would be fair to at least thank those Greater Nashua candidates who agreed to participate in our own survey.

Back in August, The Telegraph mailed out 219 cover letters and forms requesting biographical and issue information from all the Greater Nashua candidates for the New Hampshire House of Representatives and Senate. That was followed up by a second mailing in late September to those candidates who had yet to respond.

Those who chose to respond were able to publish their information to our online voter guide on our Web site, where the information remains available for viewing today. Much of that information was published last Sunday in our print Voters Guide '06, which also contains information on the candidates at the top of the ballot, general voting information, a list of local polling places, a sample ballot and other related material.

All told, 110 of the 159 legislative candidates running for local seats in Hillsborough County participated in our survey, or nearly seven out of every 10 (69.2 percent). While that was short of our goal (100 percent), it nonetheless represents enough participation to provide voters with some essential information before they head to the polls Tuesday.

Unfortunately, mirroring the disappointing trend found by Project Vote Smart, the number of participants in The Telegraph survey also dipped from the previous state election. In 2004, 121 out of 152 House and Senate candidates (79.6 percent) participated in our survey, or just about eight out of every 10.

Still, in a political age where state parties and advisers encourage candidates not to put down their positions in writing for fear it will be distorted by their opponents during the campaign, it is encouraging that a solid majority of Greater Nashua candidates agreed to make their positions known on budget/taxes, slot-machine gambling, education funding and civil unions/gay marriage.

And for that, they deserve thanks not only from us, but also from you -- whether you ultimately decide to vote for them or not. That is how elections are supposed to work: candidates explain to voters where they stand on the issues, and voters use that information to decide whether the candidates are deserving of their vote.

For those of you who either missed or misplaced last weekend's print voter guide, you can find the responses of those candidates who did participate on our online voter guide, which also contains an archive of election-related stories.

And don't forget to check our Web site frequently Tuesday for the latest Election Day information. We are making plans to publish an all-day blog and post vote totals as soon as the figures become available. If the latest polls for the state's two congressional races are accurate, it could be a long night for all of us.