Matthew Moore: The League of Women Voters of Washington County is hosting two candidate forums later this month for voters to learn more about the names they will see on their ballot ahead of the March 3 election. Michelle Wolchok is the president of the local league. She joined me late last week in the Bruce Nan Applegate News Studio 2 to discuss the forums. She says they typically hold their candidate forums in the fall leading up to the general election.
Michelle Wolchok: But here in Arkansas, our primary election also has these nonpartisan judicial races, which they will be fully decided upon in March, so there’s no runoff for them. So we thought it would be really important to get together and let the candidates connect with their voters, but more importantly, let the voters listen to the candidates running.
Moore: And so on the first evening on the Feb. 11th, the forum will include candidates for prosecuting attorney, and it will also feature the Republican candidates for the Washington County judge race. Two very different kinds of races there.
Wolchok: So especially, the one partisan race that we are going to hold this time is for our county judge. And that is not a judicial race. That is a partisan race. Our county judge is basically like the mayor for the county. So in our quorum court and our justices of the peace, of course, are like our city councils, your local city councils. And so he handles, or they would handle, our budget for all of Washington County.
So we figured, being the Washington County local league, that this was a really important race. Our current incumbent, Judge Deakins, has two opponents in the Republican primary. So they’ve all been invited, and two of the three have confirmed that they’ll be joining us that evening. On the Democrat side, there’s only one candidate. So hopefully in October, we’ll hear from both of those candidates and have another candidate forum for them.
Moore: How do you decide what to talk about for a candidate forum for, say, a prosecuting attorney? What differentiates candidates? How does a forum work in this way?
Wolchok: So our forums are all candidate forums, which is definitely different from a debate style or a town hall, say. So we have prepared questions by our moderator, and all candidates will sit up at the same table, and they’ll have a couple of minutes to introduce themselves and an equal time to answer each question that we prepare for them.
During the forum, we also have index cards out in the audience. So if there’s anything you feel like our moderator is not covering the questions, you can write down questions. And we have a small group of league members and board members who are experienced in this kind of go through and screen the questions for relevancy and redundancy, and then pass those off to our moderators.
One thing that I think voters really need to look at and listen for is maybe the values that the candidates are talking about themselves, why they want to serve in that role, and how they feel that they can best fulfill the duties of the office that they’re seeking.
Moore: The second night will include a forum for the circuit court judge. I’m going to list out the whole title here because we should.
Wolchok: Yes.
Moore: Circuit court judge, District 4, Division 2 candidates. And then in addition to that, the circuit court judge, District 4 juvenile candidates, and the District 4 juvenile Division 8 candidates. So there’s three different races happening there, right?
Wolchok: Right. So there are several circuit judge divisions, and Divisions 3 and 8 are going to be on stage together from 6:30 to 7:30, because those divisions do focus on juvenile courts. So we figured those candidates, hearing from all of them at the same time. And then we have three candidates for the Division 2 race.
Moore: One of the things that I think about for both of us is that civics is something — pardon me for speaking on your behalf — civics is something that’s very interesting to me, and I’m always curious to learn more. And I’m always OK to say, “I don’t know, but let’s find out.” Is that true for you as well?
Wolchok: It is 100% true for me. I have in front of me a bunch of papers of research that I have, but we do have — I am constantly looking up things. When we table out at farmers markets or at any local events, we get people that are already registered to vote that come up and ask questions, or people that have been registered for years but maybe haven’t voted.
So we often frequent our Arkansas secretary of state's website, VoterView, and that is a great place to get your information on what your sample ballots will look like, as well as check your status of your voter registration. We also refer a lot to the Washington County, Arkansas Election Commission. Jennifer Price, our executive director with the Washington County Election Commission, has a great, very informative website. And that’s where I get all of my information from.
The Public Policy Center at the UA System Division of Agriculture also has a really great website where you can find out information on a lot of those, especially county-level offices, what their responsibilities are. You know, you walk in and we’ll be voting on these other nonpartisan county-level offices like your county clerk and coroner, sheriff — the difference between a sheriff and a constable is something that I’ve been trying to read up a little bit on. And I just feel like being a member and a leader here of our Washington County local league, focusing on local is really, really important. It really does affect our day-to-day lives.
We often sit around and hear all of that national news gets us worked up one way or the other. But really, where can we affect change and make the most impact in that? Here at the local level. We really appreciate KUAF’s partnership in that as well. And you’re always helping to inform us of our local community.
Moore: Yeah. And it’s, you know, I think it’s really one of those things I hear a lot from — and I’m sure you do too — I hear a lot from young voters. I hear a lot from teenagers and 20-year-olds who are just like, “What’s the point in voting?” And I’m like, “Do you know how many votes that county election was chosen by?” You know, probably a dozen. And there were more than a dozen people who didn’t vote in that election that could have gone the other direction.
And so, yeah, I think it’s very important to let people know that, like, don’t be disillusioned or don’t be disaffected by what’s at the top of the ballots. Oftentimes it’s those local elections, whether it’s for a ballot measure or a bond measure or the — what is it? The circuit court judge, District 4, Division 2 candidate.
Wolchok: Right. And one race that we didn’t have the capacity to have a forum for is a contested race for our state court of appeals judges here in our local area, which covers counties from Ozark all the way up.
We have a great way for either brand new voters, young voters or voters that just want to revamp and figure out what it looks like, how it feels to go in and vote, to not be intimidated by going into the ballot or into the voting booth to fulfill your ballot. We have a voter-ready workshop scheduled here in northwest Arkansas on Saturday, Feb. 28, at the Springdale Library from 3 to 4:30 p.m.
The state league is partnering with the Arkansas Civic Action Network to put on these workshops all over the state of Arkansas, where you can learn what’s on your ballot this year, how you can research those candidates and what to expect at your voting center. We’ll have sample ballots out there so you can really make a plan before you go into the booth and realize that there are so many different races and bond issues that affect your local life.
This March, we’ll also have nonpartisan school board candidates and ballot initiatives with your local cities and counties. So those are important to research, too.
Moore: One last thing I wanted to touch on here. Last week we had a conversation on Ozarks at Large about nine bond measures that are on the ballot for Fayetteville voters. Washington County is more than just Fayetteville, of course, but you guys are working on a forum of some sort that will talk about those measures in detail as well, right?
Wolchok: Yes. Here in the city of Fayetteville, we will have a kind of a question-and-answer Fayetteville-specific bond issues event. It’ll be on Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at our local partner, Crisis Brewing, at 210 S. Nelson Hackett Blvd.
Mayor Molly Rawn is planning to be there to answer any questions and let local citizens know what these bond issues can do to help the city of Fayetteville. And that way, people either for or against, you want to know how your tax dollars are being spent. This is the perfect opportunity to come and really figure out what they’re asking for.
Absolutely. Another thing to pay attention to is a lot of local school districts at the March elections have bond renewals that they are required by state law to put on there to renew bonds that they have in the past. So those are really important, too — to check your local ballot and see what your school district may be needing from you.
Moore: Michelle Wolchok is the president of the League of Women Voters of Washington County. Again, the dates for those two candidate forums are Feb. 11 and 12 at 5:30 in the Walker Community Room at the Fayetteville Public Library.
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