Los Banos’ Candidates Forum will be held at the Los Banos Council Chambers on Oct. 13 starting at 6:30 p.m. The forum is organized by the Merced County League of Women Voters (MCLWV). According to Susan Walsh, MCLWV President, candidates from five races have been invited to attend and answer questions from the public.
Walsh explained that questions are not given to the candidates prior to the forum. Residents will be able to submit questions in advance to start the forum. Attendees can submit questions to be asked; the questions will be screened and then asked to the relevant candidates.
General questions will be asked first to all candidates before moving to specific-race questions. Each candidate has a minute-long opening and closing statement. Each answer has a limit of 90 seconds.
The League has a rule that if only a single candidate shows up, they will not be platformed. This is to avoid the appearance of an endorsement, Walsh said. She explained that is why a sixth race, for Area 5 Merced College Trustee, has not been included.
Incumbent Joe Gutierrez faces Sarai Jimenez-Robertson. The League has no means of contacting Jimenez-Robertson because they chose to withhold all contact information from their candidacy filings. Walsh said that they would only be able to invite Guitterez, which would violate the rule.
Most invitations were originally sent out on Sept. 28 through the contact info provided on candidates’ filings. Since then more information has been gathered and new invitations are going out to candidates, Walsh explained.
The race for Merced County Board of Education Trustee Area 5 was invited on Oct. 2.
The invited races, candidates and whether they have confirmed their attendance to The Express or The League as of Oct. 2 are as follows:
Los Banos City Council District 3, Incumbent Marcus Chavez (confirmed) and Erasmo Viveros (confirmed)
Los Banos School Board Area 7, Incumbent Dayna Valadao (confirmed) and Myriam Gonzalez (unconfirmed)
Merced County Superintendent of Schools, Ana Boyenga (unconfirmed) and Richard Lopez (confirmed)
State Assembly District 27, Brian Pacheco (unconfirmed) and Mike Murphy (unconfirmed)
Merced County Board of Education Trustee Area 5, Jesse D. Perez (confirmed) and (Geneva Marie Brett (confirmed).
Anthony Parreira, President of the Los Banos School Board, will be the moderator of the forum. The City of Los Banos is providing the council chambers free of charge and will be streaming the forum over YouTube, according to Walsh.
“People died and have continued to fight for the right to vote. We want to make sure that when we’re informing people, we’re doing a fair, even-handed, inclusive job,” Walsh finished.
