Politics
GOP holds forums for nonpartisan school board candidates
County Republicans are hosting two candidate forums in the nonpartisan election to fill a vacant seat on the school board.
“Even though Georgetown County School Board elections are nonpartisan, we believe it’s important for voters to know as much about these candidates as possible,” county GOP chairman Karol Anderson said. “Ensuring a quality education for all children is extremely important, plus from a taxpayer perspective the school district has by far the largest budget of any jurisdiction in the county. It’s a very important election.”
Scott DuBose, Kathy Ferdon-Anderson and Jon Tester are running for an at-large seat on the board which became vacant when Jim Dumm resigned on Dec. 31. Dumm had served on the board since 1997 and served as chairman since 2008.
The at-large term ends in November.
The first forum is Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Waccamaw Library. The second is March 7 at 7 p.m. at the Georgetown Library.
Each candidate will have up to 10 minutes to speak. They will then field written questions from the audience.
The forums are open to everyone and should last about an hour, Anderson said.
“I don’t like keeping people too long,” Anderson said.
The party will not be endorsing or recommending any of the candidates.
“Because it’s non-partisan it’s up to [voters] who they want to support,” Anderson said.
The county GOP has hosted candidate forums for years. Four years ago there was a forum for school board candidates. Two years ago there was forum for candidates from multiple offices.
The county GOP also sent a questionnaire to the candidates. Anderson used questions from previous elections and asked a friend who was a school teacher to write a few.
Questions included who should decided of children should wear masks in schools, whether the Constitution should be taught, if the candidate knew what school choice was and supported it, thoughts on the selection of textbooks, and the candidate’s interpretation of the mission of the school board.
“We’re just trying to get the information out,” Anderson said.
The candidates’ responses are posted at georgetowncountygop.org.
Absentee voting begins on March 1. To request an absentee ballot application by mail, call the election office at 843-545-3339.
Voters can cast absentee ballots in person at the county elections office at 303 North Hazard St. in Georgetown from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
A photo ID is required to vote absentee in person, as it is for voting on election day.
