Frederick County
Frederick County
League of Women Voters of Frederick County to
host live online candidate forums
The League of Women Voters of Frederick County plans to host live/online candidate forums in April. The forums will continue the League's long-standing tradition of offering nonpartisan election information to help voters make informed decisions at the ballot box. The candidates are running in two races that will appear on the ballot this election cycle. Early voting for the primary election will be May 2-9. Primary election day is set for May 14. Early voting for the General election will be October 24-31. The General election day is November 5.
The League’s forums are scheduled as follows:
Board of Education forums will be April 25 and 30. There are 17 candidates running for three open School Board seats. The League will divide the candidates into two groups alphabetically and will host half the candidates at each of these two forums.
Congress, District 6 forums will be split into several events. The League will split the 16 Democratic candidates alphabetically into forums on April 11, 16 and 23. The League will host the seven Republican candidates in a forum on April 18.
All forums will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and available for viewing live on the League of Women Voters' YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/@frederickcountylwv313/streams.
The League will record the forums and post them all on the Leagues' YouTube page at: https://www.youtube.com/@frederickcountylwv313/videos, its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/FrederickCountyLWV/videos, and on the League’s main website at https://my.lwv.org/maryland/frederick-county.
Moderators for the forums will be Dr. Betty Mayfield, Hood College professor emerita of mathematics; and Dr. Michael Powell, currently a judge on the Frederick County Orphans' Court, and a retired professor of history/political science. Drs. Mayfield and Powell will ask each candidate a wide range of policy questions in random order, providing voters valuable insight that will help them decide which candidates should earn their vote.
Except for School Board candidates, the League will not invite candidates other than Democratic or Republican to participate in the primary-season candidate forums since candidates in other parties will not appear on the primary ballot. The Board of Education election is non-partisan, and any registered voter in Frederick County, whether associated with a party or not, may vote in it.
In addition to watching the forums, the League encourages voters to visit VOTE411.org for verbatim comments from candidates in response to questions important to voters. By April 1, the League’s VOTE411.org platform will be available to voters throughout the world 24/7 through an interactive, community-specific online Voters' Guide. The League is encouraging candidates to provide answers at VOTE411.org in both English and Spanish.
The League of Women Voters of Frederick County is a nonpartisan organization that encourages informed and active participation in government. The League focuses on empowering voters and defending democracy, while working to increase understanding of major local, state, and national issues.