Budget is over, the paper’s pages planned, and it’s time to start editing. But as Daily editors file out of the small breakroom, five stay seated around the circular table. They are the Daily editorial board – source of debate, discussion and numerous letters to the editor.

Every newspaper has some form of an editorial board, but each has different guidelines on members, topics and even who gets to write the actual editorial.

At some newspapers only the editor in chief writes the editorials. At others, like the Daily, editorial board members take turns. At some newspapers everyone must be in agreement on the editorial’s stance, and at others, like the Daily, it’s left to a majority vote.

Regardless of its form, the editorial is the public’s view on the pulse of the paper; the thoughts and opinions of the people in the newsroom, covering the news and talking to the people involved in it.

Feared by some, scorned by others, the voice of the Daily isn’t always a unified one.

While there are only five people on the Daily editorial board, they represent a variety of opinions and experiences in the newsroom – a factor which contributes not only to the diversity of ideas introduced, but to long, heated debates about the actual topics.

I have always been an opinionated person, but since becoming a member of the edit board last year I’ve learned how to defend my ideas with research and logical reasoning. Most of the time.

The majority of the editorial arguments can’t be built on opinion alone; they have to have facts and examples serving as the base of the argument. Debate comes when people apply the facts and throw their opinions into the mix.

With the added variable of logical reasoning, arguments can drag on for hours, sometimes as each new point is introduced and debated.

In the end it comes down to a vote, which is why it’s important the editorial board has an odd number of people on it. Indecision on a topic is not an option for the board and if there were an even number of people the chance of stalemate would be a likely possibility.

So we vote, and members with the majority opinion win the vote and write the edit.

It’s a great system, used by newspapers large and small across the country.

The only problem comes when the opinion doesn’t have a logical argument.

Last week’s piece about assisted suicide is one of the most recent edits where a unanimous vote was not taken because the topic did not involve opinions based solely on logical arguments, but because of personal beliefs as well. Sometimes it isn’t even about personal beliefs, but because the logical arguments aren’t convincing enough.

Every day the edit board stays around the table as everyone else walks out. Every day we scan the numerous news Web sites, looking for ideas and researching opinions.

And while some of our arguments may bring us to the point of shouting or just shaking our heads in staunch disagreement or disbelief, we always seem to have gained some new insight on the topic, some new information we didn’t know before.

We laugh a lot too, because you never know what will happen when people start talking about their personal opinions and throw some facts and examples into the mix.

Sometimes we all agree; a lot of times we don’t. Sometimes the issues are easy to see; a lot of times they aren’t.

But each time is a new opportunity for us to learn from one another and share that with our readers, hoping we’ve sparked some debate in their mind.

Andrea Hauser is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Edgewood. She is editor in chief of the Daily.