SOUNDING OFF:

Now that the presidential primaries are over, and we have celebrated the Fourth of July, it is time to look at another patriotic duty close to home — preparing for local elections.

Most Huntington Beach residents are not geared to think about City Council races yet, but the campaign window period between the filing deadline for candidates and a major portion of ballots being cast has been narrowing with the increased use of voting by mail.

Typically, “absentee” ballots are “dropped” the first week of October and can be mailed back weeks before Election Day, Nov. 4. This means the electorate needs to be informed on the candidates and educated on the issues earlier on.

The best way for voters to get informed and educated is to see and hear the candidates in person at a candidate forum.

The key time frame to do this is in the 30-something day period following Labor Day, Sept. 1.

The “main event” candidate forum this year, co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the American Assn. of University Women, will be, as always, at City Hall Sept. 18. However, there is a need for more candidate forums in other parts of the city that are open to the public.

Events held by partisan clubs, service organizations, churches and other groups catering to their own memberships are not the answer.

More community-based nonprofit groups must step up and get involved in sponsoring forums for the benefit of all.

The Southeast Huntington Beach Neighborhood Assn. used to sponsor candidate forums. I helped plan and organize the very successful Neighborhood Assn. City Council Candidate Forum in 2002 as a member of the association’s executive board.

Some nonprofit group needs to fill the void left by the association’s recent inactivity, especially one that has an annual or town hall meeting in that “window period” that attracts community participation.

Candidate forums are not just for the benefit of the electorate.

They provide candidates, especially non-incumbent ones, key opportunities to meet and interact with voters.

They also provide sponsoring organizations with valuable publicity and membership recruitment opportunities. It’s a “win-win” situation all the way around.

Elections should ideally be decided by more than candidate statements, campaign mailers and generic websites.

They should be influenced by direct exposure to the candidates’ message, with the opportunity to ask questions or otherwise personally interact.

Candidate forums provide this opportunity and serve the public well in this capacity.

We need more of them here in Huntington Beach.

TIM GEDDES is a Huntington Beach resident.