A candidates’ forum for the seven people vying for three board of education seats in Calvert County that was planned for Thursday evening has been canceled by the host, the League of Women Voters of Calvert County, after several candidates withdrew.
The forum was to have been held April 18 at the Harriet Elizabeth Brown Community Center in Prince Frederick.
“Despite early responses that all seven BOE candidates would attend our event, three candidates withdrew from the forum with less than a week to go,” an emailed statement earlier this week from the chapter’s co-presidents, Sandra Raviv and Gladys White, stated.
The national organization has “non-partisan rules” which, according to Raviv and White, “require a minimum of two opposing candidates from each district to participate, so two of the three districts had to be eliminated.”
Southern Maryland News requested from the representatives the names of the three candidates who opted out at the last minute not to participate in the forum.
“We do not feel that identifying the specific individuals involved is productive from our point of view,” was the response received from the league’s representatives.
The forum was to have been held two weeks before the start of early voting for Maryland’s primary.
Only one of the three districts in Calvert has a contested primary in the school board race.
That race is in District 3, where former school board member Kelly McConkey and first-time board candidates Melissa Goshorn and Jeanette Flaim are running. The top two vote getters in the primary will advance to the November general election ballot.
District 3’s school board race is the only local race on Calvert’s primary ballot. Since the race is nonpartisan, all registered voters will have the candidates on their ballots.
In their statement, Raviv and White said, “A second, less formal option for a ‘meet and greet’ was entertained, but it was ultimately discarded, since the league could not guarantee the thoughtful and civil interaction that is a hallmark of league programs.”
The statement continued, “Looking ahead to the fall, LWVCC has decided to leave it to the [school board] candidates themselves regarding whether a second forum will be offered. This means that candidates will need to notify us that they want a nonpartisan venue to speak to the public, and that they are truly committed to attending. The league regrets that this opportunity for citizens has been canceled, for it is the citizens who are losing out the most.”
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