Monroe Co. Chamber of Commerce hosts “Meet the Candidates” event

MONROE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The Monroe County Chamber of Commerce hosted its first-ever “Meet the Candidates” forum.

The upcoming election in Monroe County will be one of the largest in recent history with 57 different political candidates.

Voters from all over the county got to come out and meet the candidates face to face.

“Not only do we want people to meet their candidate, but we want to encourage people to vote. To vote in the Primary and the General Election. If they haven’t registered to vote, they can do that here tonight,” said Monroe County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Chelsea Baulch.

Meeting the candidates and registering to vote weren’t the only things county residents got to learn about.

“There are signs that signify the various districts, the voting precincts, so if you’re not sure where to vote, who to vote for, all of that information is here tonight,” said Baulch.

The county has several other formal events and rallies throughout the year for political candidates, but this one is unique.

“This is an opportunity for the voters to actually interact with the candidate directly and kind of determine what their position is on issues that are important to the voter,” said community member Marilyn Sumerford.

Voters said the casual nature of the event will help with communication between elected officials and residents.

“They may realize that there are issues that they didn’t even realize existed,” said Sumerford.

Some voters thought the event will help bring about change in some areas.

“There are a lot of younger candidates coming on the scene, and we’ll see what happens if some of them get elected if they’re able to bring about some change,” said community member R. D. Cline.

“Anytime that there’s competition, it makes everybody kind of step up their game,” said Sumerford.

The Monroe County Primary Elections are set to take place on August 6.