The League of Women Voters of Hays County is moving into election season with a set of three in-person education candidates forums scheduled throughout April.
The forums will be recorded and will be available for viewing on the Candidate Forums page found on the league’s website, lwvhaysco.com.
Sheryl Davis, co-vice president for voter services, said the league is encouraging the public to come out and learn about the policy views of each of the candidates. The purpose of the forums is to allow the public to meet candidates for the school board positions that are up for election. Forum questions for the candidates have been prepared by league members utilizing input from the community.
The Hays CISD Board of Trustees Candidate Forum is at 7 p.m., Thursday, April 6. The event is in the Falcon Room of the Kyle City Council Chambers, 100 West Center St. The San Marcos CISD Board of Trustees Candidate Forum is from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 11. The forum will be at the San Marcos Library, 625 E. Hopkins St. The Dripping Springs ISD Board of Trustees Candidate Forum is at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 13 and will be at the Sententia Vera Cultural Club, 4002 East, Highway 290.
The notice of general election for SMCISD for portions of Hays, Guadalupe and Caldwell counties, noted that polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 6, for the voting in a general election to elect two trustees to fill a single member District One and a single member District 2 on the Board of Trustees for a three-year term each. This May two seats are up for re-election. Candidates who have filed for the May 6 election for San Marcos Consolidated ISD are District 1: Philip Allen Muzzy and Jessica Cain; District 2, Margarita T. Villalpando and Kevin Carswell; and District 3, Sandra Sepulveda Lopez, who is running unopposed.
The Hays Consolidated Independent School District lists candidates for May as the following: Trustee, Single-Member- District 1, candidates Bill Ward and Raul Vela, Jr., incumbent; and trustee, Single-Member- District 1, candidates Johnny Flores and Esmeralda Pérez-González. Hays CISD also canceled the election for Board of Trustees At-Large as the candidate Vanessa V. Petrea, current president and board member, is certified as unopposed and is elected in accordance with Section 2.053(a) of the Texas Election Code.
The notice of election for Dripping Springs ISD Trustee election states that two at-large school district trustees positions are on the ballot, with terms of three years each. Board members Ron Jones and Barbara Stroud each have terms ending in May.
Biographical and other information concerning the candidates will be available for the public to review in early April at VOTE411.org.
“As part of the League of Women Voters of Hays County mission to empower voters, the candidate forums are a valuable resource for voters to fully inform themselves before heading to the voting center,” stated Mary Earls, president of the League of Women Voters of Hays County. “The U.S. Census reports that Hays County experienced the fastest rate of growth, adding over 83,000 new residents, many of which are eligible voters. The LWV encourages new Hays County voters to attend these local forums to learn of and experience the candidates vying for their votes, however, as always, all voters are urged to attend.”
Nationally, the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that over many decades has worked to increase understanding of major public policy issues and to inform the community by way of education and advocacy for voting. Here in Hays County, the league describes its mission as empowering voters and defending democracy. Additionally, the organization states on its website that it envisions “ a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge and the confidence to participate.”
In this month devoted to women’s history, the role of the league has been to believe in the power of women “to create a more perfect democracy.”
