Voting season heats up with community forums
It promises to be an exciting voting season: more than 90 candidates have filed to run in the elections for Cuyahoga County Executive and County Council.
The primary election will be held on Sept. 7, and the general election on Nov. 2. Polling places for both elections will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The following people are candidates for Ward 10, which includes Cleveland Heights, East Cleveland, Bratenahl, and parts of Cleveland: Matt Brakey, Sharon Cole, John Crist, Albert K. Oberst, K. C. Petraitis, Alan Rapoport, Julian Rogers, Barbara J. Thomas and Danny Williams.
The following people are running in Ward 11, which includes University Heights, Beachwood, South Euclid, Lyndhurst, Richmond Heights and Euclid: Rose M. Allen, Philip R. Fine, Kathryn E. Gambatese, Jim Jovner, Joe Liptow, Patrick McLaughlin, Nino Prodan, Phil Robinson, Raymond J. Schmidlin, Jr., Sunny M. Simon and Gregory D. Smith.
The candidates for Cuyahoga County Executive are the following: James F. Brown, Terri Hamilton Brown, Edward FitzGerald, Dianna Lynn Hill, Paul Casey, Matt Dolan, Victor S. Voinovich, Sr. and David Ellison.
The League of Women Voters is hosting several community forums to give voters an opportunity to meet the candidates. Upcoming events for Wards 10 and 11 include the following:
District 11 Primary Election Forum
Aug. 3 at John Carroll University, Dolan Center for Science and Technology auditorium, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
District 10 General Election Forum
Sept. 23 at CH-UH Library on Lee Road, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (cosponsored by FutureHeights).
District 11 General Election Forum
Oct. 6 at a location to be announced, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
County Executive General Election Eastside Forum
Oct. 12 at Shaker Heights Middle School, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
In the meantime, read interviews with the candidates at www.heightsobserver.org. To check your registration or to find your polling center, go to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections website http://boe.cuyahogacounty.us/.
Jessica Kahn is a PR professional who loves crosswords, crepes and Cleveland Heights.