Candidates Forum

The NAACP is hosting a Candidates Forum on Thursday, May 4, 7 pm at the George Washington Carver Community Center (249 E Jacoby St). I didn’t know about it last Friday when I put up my events blog for the week. In fact, the forum doesn’t seem to have been publicized very much at all ~ it’s not on Norristown.org or on Nextdoor.com, or even on the Norristown Project calendar, even though Shae Ashe is one of the candidates and says he’s going to be in attendance. Please, spread the word. If you want to do so through Facebook, the event is at this link.

The event description states “Candidates for School District, Municipal Council & Magisterial Judge.” As far as the judge goes, the only person running is Judge Hunsicker, and the only residents who’ll see her name on their ballot live in the first ward (east end). The rest of you don’t need to think about voting for magistrate.

But for Council, there are 5 people running for Council-At-Large, all on the Democratic ticket. And for School Board, there are 10 candidates, 9 of which are running on both tickets. Also, wards one and three will be electing their Council reps.  I’m not sure how many of the above will be at the forum. All of them, hopefully.

You can view your sample ballot at this link. Just select “Norristown” from the list, then choose your district. If you’re not sure of your district, before you select “Norristown,” click on “Where Do I Vote” at the bottom of the page. Fill in your address and it will tell you your district and polling place.

I’ll be doing more blogs before Election Day (May 16), to at least review the candidates for Council and School Board (some of the judges too, if I have time).

Plan on getting out to vote in this primary. Put it on your calendar NOW. As we saw last year, the primary can be more important than the fall election, and candidates chosen by a minority ~ because the majority of citizens don’t get out to vote ~ will never serve us well.