There's good news and bad news for Michigan voters eager to pick a Democratic presidential nominee.

The good news is that absentee ballots will be available this Monday in municipal clerks' offices across the state. This will be the first presidential primary held since voters overwhelmingly adopted Proposal 3, which means registered voters who wish to cast a primary ballot without standing in line at their polling places will be able to do so without providing a reason.

The bad news is that Michigan's Democratic presidential primary won't be held until Mar. 10 — more than six weeks from today, and after voters in 18 other states express their own preferences.

The conundrum for the Free Press Editorial Board, which has long endorsed candidates for contended nominations in both parties, is that many of the 11 active candidates who appear on Michigan's Democratic primary ballot are likely to have been effectively eliminated from contention by the time their party's contest reaches our state Mar. 10. (Four candidates whose names appear on the ballots distributed to municipal clerks this week — Cory Booker, Julian Castro, Joe Sestak, and Marianne Williamson — have already dropped out of the race.)

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My colleagues and I have considered the advantages of withholding any endorsement decision until after the Mar. 3 "Super Tuesday" primaries, when voters in 14 states (including California and Texas, the two most populous) will pick 40% of the convention delegates in a single day.

But the likelihood that many Michigan voters will cast absentee ballots long before Super Tuesday compels us to engage in the Democratic contest before then. So we will announce our choice to lead the Democratic ticket two weeks from today, on Sunday, Feb. 9 — after the Iowa caucuses that kick off the primary season, but before the New Hampshire primary scheduled for Feb. 11.

And although we haven't decided which of the 11 active candidates has earned our endorsement, we have identified the key criteria we'll use to choose the best candidate:

Experience

Four of the five presidents historians consistently rank as the nation's most effective leaders — George Washington, Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson — brought significant executive experience to the Oval Office. (Abraham Lincoln, the other perennial presidential all-star, had held only legislative posts when he was elected of the eve of the Civil War, but quickly distinguished himself as a fast learner.)

The experience of overseeing a large state or city doesn't automatically translate into effective presidential leadership. (See Andrew Johnson or, more recently, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush). But, as in other endeavors, demonstrated success in a previous executive post, especially an elective one, is a strong advantage in any presidential primary.

As in other endeavors, the most reliable predictor of a candidate's qualifications to lead the executive branch is his or her demonstrated success in previous executive leadership roles And while it's arguable that no other leadership position is as demanding as commander-in-chief, we believe that prior executive experience, especially in elective office, is a significant advantage.

Vision

Michigan voters across the political spectrum are hungry for leaders who can articulate a national agenda that embraces the aspirations of most Americans. Candidates who seek to build a winning coalition by vilifying broad segments of the population on the basis of race, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or class are ill-suited to the challenge.

A nose for common ground

However noble his or her goals, any Democratic president who hopes to overcome the nation's political gridlock needs a pragmatic plan to diminish the polarization that has stymied progress in the critical realms of health care, immigration reform, economic inequality, and climate change.

We seek a nominee who can identify opportunities for trans-partisan consensus and articulate a plausible action plan to exploit them.

Electability

To be successful, the Democratic nominee must be able to command the respect and support of constituencies numerous and diverse enough to defeat Donald Trump, not just by garnering a larger percentage of the popular vote, but by winning states critical to an Electoral College majority.

Predicting which candidate will have the broadest appeal in a one-on-one matchup is difficult, but we believe a nominee whose demonstrated history of truthfulness, ethical conduct and human decency stands in sharpest contrast to the incumbent president's will enjoy a formidable advantage in November.

A realistic global perspective

Donald Trump's election highlighted the American electorate's growing impatience with expensive and unbounded military commitments in the name of ill-defined and unrealistic objectives. But Trump, whose inexperience has nowhere been more glaring than in the realm of foreign policy, has consistently expressed that impatience in ways that antagonize America's allies and embolden its enemies.

We seek a potential presidential successor who can harness the United States' still-formidable military and diplomatic resources to national security objectives a broad cross-section of Americans understand and support. The next president will also need a strategy to restore confidence in the nation's commitment to global stability and sustainability.

How you can help

We've done our best to articulate criteria we believe will strike readers across the political spectrum as reasonable. And although our list of qualifications is far from exhaustive, we believe it's broad enough to capture the strengths and weaknesses of the Democratic candidates.

Free Press readers can help us make a thoughtful endorsement by explaining why their preferred candidate meets those criteria better than his or her rivals, and sharing their arguments with us on the form provided below. We'll publish the most insightful arguments, including those on behalf of candidates we don't ultimately recommend, when we announce our endorsement two weeks from today.

Don't see the form? You can also vote here.

Brian Dickerson is the Editorial Page Editor of the Free Press. Contact him at bdickerson@freepress.com.