LWV Candidate Forums - League of Women Voters of Thurston County Washington

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CANDIDATE FORUMS

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2025 Primary Election

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Public Candidate Forums

The League of Women Voters of Thurston County is proud to partner with the Timberland Regional Library, Thurston Community Media, and the NAACP of Thurston County to present a series of candidate forums which are open to the public. At these forums candidates for several races in the upcoming election will answer questions from the audience.

September 17th @ 1pm - North Thurston School Board at Lacey Timberland Library
September 20th @ 10:30am and 1pm - Tumwater School Board at Tumwater Timberland Library
September 24th @ 6:30pm - Olympia School Board at Olympia Timberland Library
October 8th @ 6:30pm - Olympia City Council at Olympia Timberland Library

Audience members will be provided note cards to write questions on which will be given to League volunteers who will consolidate similar questions, edit for clarity, and ensure neutral wording.

The criteria for questions from the public are

Questions must be relevant to the position the candidates are running for.
Questions must be addressed to all candidates
Questions must relate to only one subject, and should be no longer than one sentence
Questions must be worded in a neutral and non-partisan manner

The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan political organization that does not endorse candidates or political parties.

Olympia City Council, Position 6 Candidates: Darleen Simkins Justin Stang Robert Vanderpool Moderator: Donna Cobb Timer: Rae Watkins Position Description: According to the Council Guidebook by the City of Olympia, “Members of the Olympia City Council are collectively responsible for: establishing policy, adopting an annual budget, providing vision and goals, and hiring and supervising the City Manager, Police Auditor, and Hearing Examiner.”
Olympia City Council, Position 4 Candidates: Wendy Carlson Michael A. Marstrom Moderator: Nicole Miller Timer: Greg Hammaker Position Description: According to the Council Guidebook by the City of Olympia, “Members of the Olympia City Council are collectively responsible for: establishing policy, adopting an annual budget, providing vision and goals, and hiring and supervising the City Manager, Police Auditor, and Hearing Examiner.”
Port of Olympia, Position 3 Candidates: Rebecca Faust Anthony Hemstad Krag Unsoeld Moderator: Vallie Needham Huisman Timer: Sally Nole Position Description: The Port of Olympia is a Washington State special purpose municipal corporation serving all of Thurston County. The Port owns and operates four distinct business lines, including Swantown Marina and Boatyards, Seaport, Olympia Regional Airport, and a real estate portfolio. The Port is well balanced and committed to fostering economic growth of the South Puget Sound region while serving the needs of the global clientele.
Olympia School Board, Position 3 Candidates: Renee Fullerton Rhyan Smith Moderator: Vallie Needham Huisman Timer: Evan Ferber Position Description: According to their website “The Olympia School District Board of Directors is comprised of five citizens elected to represent the community in setting district goals and policies, adopting the budget, placing tax levies and bond issues on the ballot, hiring personnel including the Superintendent, and providing the necessary facilities for the education of our community's youth.”
Olympia School Board, Position 5 Candidates: Emily Leddige Gilbert Lamount Moderator: Tawney Crawford Timer: Deborah Roberts Position Description: According to their website “The Olympia School District Board of Directors is comprised of five citizens elected to represent the community in setting district goals and policies, adopting the budget, placing tax levies and bond issues on the ballot, hiring personnel including the Superintendent, and providing the necessary facilities for the education of our community's youth.”
Yelm Mayor Candidates: Dustin Stephen JW Foster Moderator: Cynthia Stewart from LWV of Tacoma-Pierce County Timer: Vallie Needham Huisman Position Description: The Mayor is the chief executive and administrative officer of the city, in charge of all departments and employees, with authority to designate assistants and department heads. The Mayor may appoint a city administrator, subject to the confirmation by a majority vote of the city council. The Mayor shall appoint and remove all appointive officers of the city. which shall include: a city attorney, a chief of police, a city clerk/treasurer, a public works director, and a community development director. They shall have general supervision of the administration of city government and all city interests.

Early in each election cycle, we invite local candidates to participate in a candidate forum. A forum, not to be confused with a debate, is a panel featuring the candidates and a League moderator. The candidates are all asked the same questions and have the same amount of time to respond. The questions come from League members and folks in the community. The candidates are not provided the questions in advance. The League has partnered with Thurston Community Media to record and produce the forums since the 1990s.This year, we are excited to expand our partnerships to include the Timberland Regional Library and the NAACP of Thurston County.

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The Invitation Process

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Moderators & Timers

To preserve the League’s credibility as a nonpartisan organization, and to avoid any appearance of bias, moderators and timers for these forums shall not have contributed to, endorsed, or publicly supported any of the candidates participating in the forum in which they are moderating or timing.

This policy applies to individual events and circumstances. It will only apply to a forum where a moderator or timer may have endorsed, publicly supported or donated to a specific candidate in that forum. A moderator or timer may have a conflict in one candidate forum, but not in another and will still be able to moderate.

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Empty Chair Policy

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Write-In Candidates

The forum committee may consider a write in candidate as a participant in a candidate forum, if they meet the following: (1) the candidate must have officially filed and paid any fee to the county elections office in accordance with RCW 29A.24.311; and (2) there must be an active campaign on behalf of the write-in candidate.

If a write-in candidate participates in a forum, the moderate must announce in advance that the write in candidate’s name will not appear on the ballot and ballots for the write in candidate will only be counted if they meet the requirements in RCW 29A.60.021(7) or (8).