Why a Meet the Candidates forum?

10:45 a.m. March 14, 2026

As part of the Observer’s commitment to independent, fact-based reporting, campaign letters or promotional submissions from candidates are not accepted.

THE OBSERVER

In a rural county, familiarity can be both a strength and a shortcut.

Voters often recognize the names on the ballot long before they know where those candidates stand. The people seeking office may be neighbors, business owners, former classmates, church members or familiar faces from years of local meetings and Friday night ballgames. In a place like Moore County, that kind of closeness can make elections feel personal and informal. It can also make them easy to take for granted.

But the offices on the ballot still carry real weight, and the decisions made by the people who win do not stay confined to meeting rooms for long. They show up in school budgets, on back roads, on utility bills, and in the day-to-day services residents depend on.

That is why Meet the Candidates forums still matter in rural communities.

The Moore County Observer is hosting a Meet the Candidates forum from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, June 27, at the Moore County High School gymnasium. The event will give voters a chance to hear candidates side by side, compare their views, and ask questions about the issues shaping Moore County’s future.

“There have been significant changes across Moore County in the past 10, 20 years,” said Duane Cross, publisher and editor of the Observer. “While many of the names on the ballot are familiar, there are new voices looking to be heard across all districts. Having a forum where the community can gather and hear candidates answer neighbors’ questions is important before checking a box in the voting booth.”

Those questions are rarely abstract in a small county. Issues such as school funding, road needs, public spending, growth, utilities, and the long-term direction of the community all land close to home. In Moore County, local government decisions tend to be felt quickly and personally.

A public forum gives voters a chance to size up the people asking to make those decisions.

Rather than relying only on campaign signs, Facebook posts, mailers, or secondhand impressions, residents can hear candidates answer the same questions in the same room. That side-by-side format allows voters to compare more than positions alone. It shows how well candidates understand local issues, how clearly they communicate, and how they handle pressure in a public setting.

That carries particular weight in a rural county, where accessibility and accountability are often expected, not optional. Voters want to know whether the people asking for their support are willing to stand before the public, explain their priorities, and answer direct questions from the community they hope to represent.

Cross said the June 27 event is designed to do exactly that.

“We are extending an invitation to everyone on the ballot,” he said. “This is not a ‘Gotcha!’ event. It will be a cordial afternoon where questions are asked and answered without the interpretation of reporters, social media’s keyboard warriors, or a game of Telephone where facts get muddled. You will hear directly from those seeking your vote.”

The value of a forum is practical as much as civic.

In smaller counties, voters often do not have the volume of campaign coverage, advertising, or polling found in larger cities. Some races unfold through conversations at church, word of mouth, yard signs, and social media posts. A candidate forum provides a single place where voters can hear from multiple candidates at once, make direct comparisons, and leave better informed.

For lesser-known candidates, that kind of event can provide needed visibility. For better-known candidates, it creates public accountability. For voters, it offers something more useful than campaign noise: a fair opportunity to see who understands the office, who can handle scrutiny, and who appears ready for the work of serving.

The purpose of a Meet the Candidates forum is not to tell people whom to support. It is to give them a stronger basis for deciding. When organized fairly and centered on community concerns, such an event can clarify differences, cut through assumptions, and help residents head to the ballot box with a clearer sense of who has earned their vote.

In a county like Moore, where government is close enough to watch, and leadership is close enough to know by name, that face-to-face exchange still matters.

Before Election Day arrives, it gives the public a chance to do something simple, old-fashioned, and essential: hear the candidates for themselves and decide who is ready to lead.

• Also: Who is on the ballot?

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