KUDOS! TO THE CANTON~LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS!!!

EVERY NOVEMBER 7TH VOTING STARK COUNTIAN

SHOULD HAVE READ 

THE CANTON~LWV VOTERS GUIDE

BEFORE VOTING

One of Stark County's best voter education resources is the Canton~League of Women Voters®  (CLWV, "the League") Voters Guide.

As experienced and as knowledgeable as The Stark County Political Report is on Stark County political subdivision politics, a highly valued and prolifically used blog preparation resource is the CLWV Voters Guide.

The Report thinks it is irresponsible for any Stark County voter to vote without first having looked at the information packed into the Voters Guide.

However, the 2017 guide does have a weakness or two that needs upgrading for the 2018 version.

A major, major, major weakness is the limit of the guide's Stark County geographic coverage, to wit:

While undoubtedly among Stark County's political subdivisions Canton, Louisville, Massillon, North Canton, Jackson Township, Nimishillen Township, Perry Township and Plain Township are important, why would "the League" leave out, for instance, Alliance or Stark County's fourth largest (population wise) township Lake Township in its coverage?

There is an important city council-at-large race going on in Alliance (see SCPR coverage) and there could be a "changing of the guard" in the Board of Lake Township Trustees in this election cycle.

Nonetheless, the Canton~League of Women Voters® publication is a high value voter information resource for Stark Countians to access.

In addition to its voters guide, "the League" has sponsored several candidate/issue (Issue #2) forums.

The Canton Repository also sponsored the forums but the SCPR does not include The Rep in praise for the effort to inform Stark County voters because Stark County's only countywide newspaper (a monopoly, folks!) did very little to promote the events.

Another group of persons who deserve singling out for their failure to support are those candidates in the voter guide coverage area who did not respond to "the League's" questionnaire preparatory to the guide publication:

MASSILLON

Ward 1 council candidates:

• Sara Cunningham (incumbent)
• James Wogamoff

NORTH CANTON

• David Held (incumbent mayor)
• Marcia Kiesling (incumbent councilwoman at large)

JACKSON BOARD OF EDUCATION

• Thomas Winkhart (incumbent)
• Katrina M. Barton

PLAIN TOWNSHIP

• John Juergensen, trustee candidate

Voters ought to note these non-participants and seek out an answer as to why they did not participate in this "inform the voters" publication and if they do not have an acceptable reason for not having done so, make their non-participation a factor in whether or not to vote for any one of them.

Here is a list of the "front and center folks" who staff "the League's" operations.

Here is a SCPR recorded video of Canton LWV president Dr. Amy Shriver Dreussi explaining "the League's" mission.

One reason "the League" might have limited its scope of Stark County coverage could be the lack of volunteers on hand to handle the huge amount of work entailed in gathering, sifting through and getting information in proper format for publication.

The SCPR encourages Stark Countians who want to participate in Stark County political subdivision elections in a non-partisan way to sign up for membership in the Canton~League of Women Voters®.

Others who deserve accolades for supporting the impressive Canton~League of Women Voters® Stark County-based civic education projects include:

DONORS TO PROVIDE FOR EXPENSE OF PRODUCING GUIDE

PRODUCERS/DISTRIBUTORS OF THE GUIDE