Two Political Candidate Forums

Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.

The Monticello-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring two forums to educate voters about the candidates in the upcoming General Election. The moderated Q&A sessions will give voters an important opportunity to meet vying candidates, hear their views, learn about their positions on issues and compare their talking points.
The first forum will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 11, and focuses on races for two seats on the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners. For the District 2 seat, incumbent Gene Hall (D) faces challenger Paul Henry (L). For the District 4 seat, incumbent Betsy Barfield (NPA) faces challenger Austin Hosford (R).
The second forum will take place on Thursday¸ Oct. 13, and focuses on candidates for the job of Jefferson County Supervisor of Elections. In this race, the ballot offers a choice between Michelle Milligan (R), who secured her party's nomination in the August primary, and Althera Y. Johnson (D), who secured her party's nomination without opposition in the primary.
Both events start at 6 p.m. in the upstairs courtroom in the Jefferson County Courthouse, located at 1 Courthouse Circle.
Candidates have been invited to participate in the forums, and the public is encouraged to attend to become more informed before placing their vote in the 2022 General Election.
Moderator of the forums is Ron Cichon, who has represented the Chamber in these events starting in 1976.
Cichon says that he feels anyone who runs for public office is special, regardless of party affiliation, because they add to the public debate on the issues. He likes to point out during forums that “We are friends and neighbors before the election, and we'll be friends and neighbors after the election.”
Panelists who will be posing questions during the forums are Bob Davison and David Ward, who have served in this capacity for several forums. There also will be an opportunity for members of the public to submit questions for the panelists to ask the candidates.
Another opportunity to become informed about local candidates in the 2022 General Election is reviewing the special news section, “2022 Election: Choose Well Jefferson County,” which was published in the Jefferson County Journal on
Friday, Aug. 5. All six candidates listed above published answers to a questionnaire in this special section prior to the primary election.
In addition, the Jefferson County Supervisor of Elections website provides a wealth of voter information. At www.jeffersonvotes.com, Jefferson County residents can register to vote (registration for the 2022 General Election closes Oct. 11), check their registration status, learn their precinct and district information, request a vote-by-mail ballot and more.