ELECTION QUESTIONNAIRE PUBLISHED

This Election

Today, Tuesday 29 October, EssexSunshine.Org (ESO) is publishing both on line www.essexsunshine.org/elections and in the Rappahannock Times the list of the candidates for Essex County elected office.  More importantly, the publication includes basic Candidate information and a questionnaire addressing some of the major policy issues which confront the Board of Supervisors, the Treasurer, and the School Board.

ESO sincerely hopes that the information provided by the candidates is helpful to the voters in selecting the candidates who they believe will serve the best interests of Essex County.  We appreciate the time and effort six of the candidates put into preparing their answers in their Questionnaires.  The answers were thoughtful and very clearly demonstrated that those candidates were interested in openness, transparency, and communicating with the citizens of Essex County.

Three of the candidates did not return surveys.  They missed an excellent opportunity to share their goals, governing philosophy, and vision for the future with the voters.  ESO is disappointed that they chose not to answer the questionnaires and thereby kept their candidacy in the shadows rather than campaigning in the Sunshine.

Please vote, either absentee thru this weekend or at your assigned District Polling location on Tuesday November 5^th.  The polls will be open at 6:00 AM and will close at 7:00 PM.  NOTE:  If you are in line to vote when the polls close, you will be able to cast your vote!

Next Election

In many counties, cities, and towns the League of Woman Voters coordinates nonpartisan local Candidate Forums or Debates.  Since we don't have a League in Essex County, ESO had hoped to develop and sponsor a candidate's forum.  It would have provided the citizens of Essex County an opportunity to meet the candidates, listen to their policy and leadership plans, and to ask direct questions concerning their ideas for moving Essex County forward.  In early September, when it became obvious that the logistics, coordination, and publicity required significantly more time, we elected to use a simple elective office base questionnaire as a substitute for the preferred Public Forum.

ESO will begin planning after the general election after 5 November (PLEASE VOTE IN THIS ELECTION on NOV 5) for Candidate Forums during the 2015 General Election.  In 2015 all of the Constitutional Offices will be on the Ballot along with the Central and South District Board of Supervisor seats and the Central and South District School Board seats will be on the ballot.

Note:  The correction of errors immediately above is addressed in the ESO Bog Post dated 31 October above,  That Post also clarifies the offices which will appear on the ballots in Essex County for the November 2014 General Election.

John Clickener - Publisher