Between now and November, candidates for many offices will be asking for your vote. But they must do their part to earn those votes.
The League of Women Voters wants every eligible citizen to vote in every election. And many people do, twice a year, every year.
But many do not vote. And one of the most frequent reason nonvoters give for not voting is that they don’t know enough about the candidates, especially candidates running for the Pennsylvania House and Senate (Note: No state senators representing Bucks County are up for reelection in 2024).
We all have issues we care about, and the people we elect to the state Legislature can have a big impact on those issues. Learning where candidates stand on the two or three issues you care about can help you decide how to cast your vote. And there are several ways to find out — but only if the candidates participate.
The League of Women Voters provides a Voters Guide in this newspaper and online at www.Vote411.org where voters can find unedited answers to a variety of questions put to the candidates. Spotlight PA and the Committee of Seventy also publish online guides. But the candidates must do their part and respond to the questions.
The Bucks County Herald is also launching a series of articles in which candidates running for the state Legislature can introduce themselves to voters. But the candidates need to share their information.
In September, the League of Women Voters of Bucks County is partnering with the Bucks chapter of the NAACP and Bucks County Community College to host an in-person candidate forum for all the Bucks County candidates running for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. This forum will focus on one issue: Education. This is a topic which directly affects every parent and grandparent, every student from K through college, every employer who seeks to hire competent staff and every taxpayer.
We have invited all of the candidates to attend this forum, which will be held at the Newtown campus of Bucks County Community College at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 12. It will also be live-streamed and recorded. We urge all candidates to join us.
All of the organizations listed above give candidates a public platform, an open opportunity to help the voters understand their positions on a wide variety of issues and to earn the votes they need to win. Voters need to know where their elected representatives stand so that they can cast their votes with confidence.
It is up to candidates to decide whether they will respond and take part. Participation shows that the candidates respect the voters and respect the democratic process.
Voters can help by urging their candidates to attend the forum on education, answer the questions in the voters guides and participate in the Herald’s candidate initiative.
This is how democracy works.
Jean Weston is a member of the LWV of Bucks County, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing voter education and services and advocating for issues. It envisions a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate.
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