Before the ballots, a chance to listen

With more than 25 local names on the ballot, each candidate has the floor, and voters get first-hand feedback

#Opinion • 10:50 p.m. June 12, 2026

At 9 a.m. Saturday, June 27, Moore County voters will have a chance to do something simple, useful, and important at the Moore County High School gym.

We can show up.

The Moore County Candidates Forum is not a fight. It is not a cross-examination. It is not a place to put people on the spot for sport.

It is a chance for candidates to introduce themselves to the people they hope to serve. It is a chance for voters to hear from tomorrow’s local leaders in their own words. And it is a chance for this community to ask thoughtful questions about where Moore County is headed next.

That matters in every election.

It matters more in a small county, where the people on the ballot are not strangers on a screen. They are our neighbors. They shop where we shop. Their kids and grandkids sit in our classrooms. We pass them on the Square, at the ballfield, in church, at Woodard’s and on back roads where everybody still lifts a hand.

A fair room for every candidate

There are more than 25 local names on the ballot for the General Election on Aug. 6. Will every candidate be in attendance? We hope so. Maybe not. But giving every candidate the opportunity to speak with our neighbors – and giving voters the opportunity to listen, ask and decide for themselves – is about as red, white and blue as it gets in #America250.

That is not campaign theater. That is citizenship.

The Observer is working with the Moore County GOP and the Moore County Democratic Party to ensure each candidate has a voice in the discussion with our neighbors. We announced the forum in March. We are following up now. Formal invitations have been mailed to the candidates.

We want everyone to be heard.

These are the people volunteering their time to represent us. Whether they are running for county office, a school board seat, or another local position, they are stepping forward. That deserves a fair room, a respectful audience, and a civil conversation.

That is what this forum is intended to be.

The timing matters

Yes, it is the morning of Frontier Days. We know folks will have full calendars that weekend. But we also wanted to hold the forum before families get out of town for the Fourth of July, before the voter registration deadline on July 7, and before early voting begins July 17.

The timing is not perfect.

Local democracy rarely works on a perfect calendar.

But the timing matters.

Voters deserve the chance to hear from candidates before the calendar starts moving fast. Candidates deserve the chance to speak before ballots are cast. And the community deserves a setting where the conversation is neighbor to neighbor, not rumor to rumor.

That setting will be the Moore County High School gym – a fitting place for a conversation about the county our children will inherit.

Local decisions land close to home

In a small community, local government is close enough to touch. It is not some far-off thing that happens beyond our reach. Here, local decisions show up on our roads, in our schools, in our water systems, in our property taxes, in emergency services, in land-use decisions, and in the everyday rhythm of life.

Those decisions do not stay on paper.

They land.

They land on families trying to stay here. They land on young people wondering whether Moore County has room for them after graduation. They land on teachers, deputies, first responders, small-business owners, farmers, retirees, and every taxpayer who wants this county to plan well, grow carefully, and protect what makes this place worth calling home.

That is why a candidates' forum matters.

It gives voters a chance to see more than a name on a sign. It gives candidates a chance to explain who they are, why they are running, and how they think about the work ahead. It puts everyone in the same room, hearing the same answers at the same time.

There is value in that – especially now.

The work in front of us

Moore County is not standing still. Growth is here. Budget pressure is here. Infrastructure needs are here. School-capacity concerns are here. Water, roads, public safety, and development standards are no longer distant conversations.

They are the work in front of us.

And the people elected today will help shape how Moore County handles that work tomorrow.

That does not mean every candidate needs to have every answer. No one does. But voters deserve to hear how candidates think. How they listen. How they weigh hard choices. How they understand the county’s needs. How they see the next five, 10, and 20 years.

Public service starts with that kind of conversation.

So does public trust.

Knowing each other is one of the gifts of living here. But elections still require more than familiarity. They require attention.

What they inherit

Because the truth is, the decisions made in this season will not stop with this season.

The next generation will inherit them.

The children in our classrooms today will one day live with the roads we build, the land we protect, the growth we allow, the standards we set, and the priorities we fund. They will remember whether Moore County looked ahead or waited too long. They will live in the community we are shaping now.

That should matter to all of us. It should matter enough to spend a Saturday morning listening.

Small towns can fool us into thinking we already know everything. We do not. We know pieces. We know stories. We know reputations. But voters deserve to hear directly from the people asking for their vote.

Not through rumors, social media scraps, or campaign chatter passed along third-hand.

Directly.

Change does not have to be bad

That is the value of a forum. It lets candidates speak for themselves. It lets voters ask fair questions. It reminds us that local government works best when the community participates before decisions are made.

Moore County is changing. That does not have to be a bad thing. Growth does not have to mean losing who we are. But keeping the best of this place will take steady hands, clear thinking, and leaders who understand the weight of what comes next.

The Candidates Forum is not the only place for that conversation. It will not be the last. But it can be an important one.

So come listen. Come ask. Come meet the people who want to serve this county. Come give tomorrow’s leaders your attention, and give yourself the chance to make a more informed choice.

More than 25 local names will appear on the Aug. 6 ballot. Each one deserves the chance to be heard. Each voter deserves the chance to hear them.

The decisions made today will shape the Moore County our children inherit.

That is worth one Saturday morning in the gym – before the ballots are cast, and before the next generation inherits the choices we make now.