What are the primary issues that you see as needing to be addressed?

These could be important questions. Maybe some of those who will be running for Town Council positions will read and head. Remember we have one more May election before the move to November. That could mean one last big push to create change or, one final push to maintain the status quo for a few more years before the November elections have an impact.

What do you want to see happen in your town? I’ll be adding a few ideas of my own over the next few months. AT the same time, I’ll be looking hard at your suggestions, at the town code, the comprehensive plan, meeting minutes since 2001, audio and video recordings (which by the way are finishing loading and should be all up to date by noon today), and all the emails I’ve received from you.

I think it is a good idea to begin discussing issues now to give a better idea of what citizens identify as issues to those who may be running for election.

At the end of the day, Christiansburg voters did have their say. Nearly 90% of voters supported moving the town elections to November.

I was pretty sure that there was enough citizen interest to move the vote based upon the number of citizens that I have communicated with over the last several months. However, I never dreamed the results would be such a landslide.

The results of the referendum and other local elections were delayed when the Registrar’s Office started putting the first votes into the spreadsheet provided by the state and some of the numbers did not look right. It seems that the total voting population of the County was being used in those ballot issues set for Blacksburg and Christiansburg only. It took a while for the Registrar’s Office to get with the state and have the spreadsheet corrected but the totals presented on the State Board of Elections website today are correct.

My thanks to the Registrar’s Office for catching the problem and getting it fixed before a lot of erroneous numbers got published, creating chaos.

I would also like to thank all of the candidates (win, lose, or draw) for being willing to tackle the tough issues and being a source of information for voters.

Finally, my thanks to the League of Women Voters of Montgomery County for setting new standards for providing citizens with information through their forums and website (lwvmcva.org). If you want to be involved in voter education, voting rights, local/state/national issues, membership with the League of Women Voters is open to all. Thanks to those people who contributed to the League of Women Voters and made it possible to produce all of the printed materials. For more information on joining the LWV’s or making a donation, go to: League of Women Voters of Montgomery County Virginia.

• Governor
• Lieutenant Governor
• Attorney General
• House of Delegates
• Board of Supervisors
• School Board
• Mayor of Blacksburg
• Town Council of Blacksburg
• Christiansburg Referendum to Move the Voting Date from May to November

That date is not so very far away. Now is the time to either start or continue looking at the choices available to you.

The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County will be hosting several Candidate Forums and you can find information on when those forums will occur at the LWV of Montgomery County, VA’s website at http:lwvmcva.org.  The Leage of Women Voters of Virginia will co-host with the AARP of Virginia a statewide televised Gubernatorial Debate also and that information is on the site as well.

You will also find other useful links such as the VOTER INFORMATION link which gives you links to such information as:

• how to verify that you are registered to vote
• where you go to vote
• what is on your ballot
• how to submit and verify the status of an absentee ballot
• Spanish and English version of the aCLU documents describing your voting rights
• and, FACTCHECK.org, one of the best places around to find out if the information you have been provided is accurate.

Every one of the web pages on that website has a link to VOTE411.org where you can find a ton of information along these lines and MORE!

Be sure to check bookmark the lwvmcva.org website because there will be ongoing updates to the candidate forums page including information such as (for forums sponsored by the LWV of Montgomery County, VA):

• Links to online videos of the candidate forums
• Questions presented to the candidates as part of the LWV’s Voter’s Guide candidates’ responses
• Questions from the public that there was not time to address during the forums and the candidates’ responses

Each time you vote you are investing in your future and the future of your children and grandchildren because the decisions made by elected officials today will have long term repercussions. Each time you vote, whether in National, State, or Local elections there WILL be an impact on you. I think it is worth it to take some time to learn about the candidates and cast my vote for the best person for the job! How about you? Do you have a little bit of time to invest in your future?