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Tuesday, March 19, 2024
March 19, 2024

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Forum’s aim: Get county voting again

Group will address low voter turnout, possible solutions

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Public Meeting

What: “Where Have All the Voters Gone?” is a public forum on how to engage Clark County voters.

What: Vancouver Community Library, 901 C St., Vancouver.

When: 4 to 5:30 p.m. today.

Information: To read more on the forum, search for “Where Have All the Voters Gone? Re-Engaging Voters in 2015” on Facebook.

For local politics buffs, Clark County’s low voter turnout rates are dismaying.

Despite a number of high-profile races in 2014, only half the county’s registered voters bothered to fill out their ballots. The turnout was disappointing, Clark County Elections Supervisor Cathie Garber said last November.

A nonpartisan group of local politicians and experts hopes to find ways to change that today at a community forum, called “Where Have All the Voters Gone?” Familiar faces, including Vancouver City Councilor Jack Burkman, county Auditor Greg Kimsey and former county Commissioner Betty Sue Morris will discuss the county’s voter turnout numbers and their implications for local politics.

Public Meeting

&#8226; What: "Where Have All the Voters Gone?" is a public forum on how to engage Clark County voters.

&#8226; What: Vancouver Community Library, 901 C St., Vancouver.

? When: 4 to 5:30 p.m. today.

? Information: To read more on the forum, search for "Where Have All the Voters Gone? Re-Engaging Voters in 2015" on Facebook.

Leading the charge for the forum is Chuck Green, who has a vested interest in voters filling out their ballots in November. The C-Tran project manager is also a Democratic candidate for the Clark County council District 2 seat.

Green emphasized, however, that the forum is not a political stop for him — Green announced the forum at a Vancouver City Council meeting several weeks before he announced his candidacy — but an opportunity to come up with creative solutions to encourage people to vote.

“I’m hoping we get some really good ideas that we can try to engage voters,” Green said.

Participants will divide into small groups in order to discuss ways to encourage people to vote. Burkman, who will be presenting an analysis of Clark County’s voters, said he hopes the data will shape those conversations.

For example, Burkman said, his analysis of voter data shows that as many people over the age of 70 voted as under the age of 40. Burkman hopes numbers like that will get people thinking and talking about how to engage young voters.

“We’re near the lowest (voter turnout) in the state, and that’s really scary,” Burkman said. “If we want effective governance in our community, we need to engage citizens.”

The event is sponsored in part by the League of Women Voters, Clark County’s branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, League of United Latin American Citizens, and the National Women’s Coalition Against Violence and Exploitation.

The forum runs from 4 to 5:30 p.m. today at the Vancouver Community Library on 901 C St. in downtown Vancouver. Space is limited to 120 people. The event will also be broadcast on Comcast government access channel CVTV.

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