Morris election forums: GOP snubs, so LWV scrubs

League of Women Voters logo
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From the League of Women Voters:

League of Women Voters Will Not Be Holding
Commissioner or Municipal Debates in Morris County for Election 2022

 

The League of Women Voters (LWV) has a century-long reputation of providing unbiased information to voters through candidate forums and debates, candidate questionnaires, voter registration drives and community education events.

It is the League’s mission to empower voters by educating and informing them about voting and the issues that impact them and their communities.

Three Leagues serve the voters of Morris County, LWV of the Morristown Area, LWV Warren and West Morris Counties and LWV Mountain Lakes. For the past several years, they have sponsored a series of candidates forums in all races, from boards of education to Congress.

Voters are invited to the live forums where they are given the opportunity to ask questions and hear candidates discuss the issues of importance to them. In response to Covid19 protocols, these events were held virtually in 2020 and 2021 and can be viewed here.

League debate moderators are highly trained and follow long established nonpartisan LWV rules and format. Questions are solicited from the public online and screened by the League and its co-sponsors to eliminate abusive language, questions of a personal nature, and inaccurate phrasing.

Only those questions that address issues the candidate can be reasonably expected to address, if elected, are used.

This year, since all the candidates from one party throughout Morris County have either declined or not responded to invitations to participate, the three Leagues of Women Voters in Morris County were not able to meet their own strict guidelines for unbiased debates.

For a League-sponsored General Election debate to take place, there must be representation from more than one political party. Therefore, there will be no candidate debates for County Commissioner and municipal elections. A date for the Congressional debate in District 11 will be announced soon.

All three Morris County Leagues have scheduled School Board candidate forums and will hold several voter registration drives and educational opportunities between now and Nov. 8.

The deadline to register to vote in the 2022 General Election is Oct. 18, 2022. You can register to vote if you are a U.S. citizen, 17 years old (with the understanding you may not vote before your 18th birthday), have been a resident of Morris County 30 days before the elections and you are not currently serving a sentence of incarceration for a felony conviction. Register to vote here.

New Jersey voters may now vote early, in person, on a voting machine, between Oct. 29 and Nov. 6. During this time, a limited number of polling locations will be open from 10 am – 8 pm on weekdays and Saturdays and from 10 am – 6 pm on Sundays.

League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area
League of Women Voters of Warren and West Morris Counties
League of Women Voters of Mountain Lakes

5 COMMENTS

  1. I requested a reasonable accommodation from the League of Women Voters of the Morristown Area for the board of education forum which is in October. I communicate with the aid of a computer device, like the one used by the well-known scientist, Stephen Hawking.

    Opening and closing statement segments of the forum are no problem for me. One minute to answer per question is a problem. Like Stephen Hawking, I can preprogram rapid replies. However, if I need to type a new answer, it will take a lot longer than a minute. I requested a reasonable accommodation, which I have the right to request under ADA. I wanted a list of three possible debate questions on their ten topics a week or a few days before the forum. That would let me preprogram my replies so that I can reply within the proscribed time frame. On debate night, they could ask me one question on each subject. I had no objection to the questions being shared with the other candidates.

    Upon requesting a better accommodation for this year’s forum, I received a one-line response from the League of Women Voters, which was, “We will do the forum the same way as last year. Barbara”. For last year’s forum, the League of Women Voters presented all the candidates the issues that normally come up at a board of election candidate discussion. I was not presented with any questions in advance. I could only prepare my answers based on my best guess what the specific question might be. This process did not work well for me. There was no way I could predict what I would be asked and have a prepared answer quickly available. My best hope was that the voters would be able to deduce where I stand on the issues.
    The League of Women Voters state that they are very pro voters with disabilities as they celebrate their Disability Voting Rights Week. It’s a national, nonpartisan initiative to build the power and presence of the disability vote. I guess that the League of Women Voters are not pro school board candidate with disabilities who happens to be a truly proud Republican. Their prejudice is clearly on display and their insensitivity is shameful.

  2. Refusing to participate in a forum featuring opposing candidates that serves to provide informed perspective to voters is a blow to democracy. What are the GOP candidates afraid of? Why is their County Chair refusing to “allow” them to participate in a forum that has been designed, and would be executed, to inform voters about the positions candidates take on issues that matter to them?

    Why miss out on an opportunity to inform, to persuade, to convince to earn their vote? It makes no sense to me except to believe they wish no exposure; they plan on being elected without a plan or a platform.

    Meanwhile, they cast aspersions on the much-respected League of Women Voters–the non-partisan group that has managed to facilitate debates successfully for decades–for “cover.”

    Helping to sustain an informed electorate, a key element of our democracy, I guess, is not a concern of the GOP. It’s a loss I lament.

  3. Add the League of Women Voters to the list of reputable organizations the Rethugs have targeted with smear campaigns e.g. the FBI (January 6th anyone?) and the NAACP (Bob Dole in 1996).

  4. If the GOP went to the the LWV and stated that the sun was yellow LWV would immediately disagree and state that the sun was pink. I wouldn’t waste my time with them either.

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