May 1, 2018 2 min read

Recently, I discovered that for the first time in many, many years the League of Women Voters of Washington County will not be publishing its voter’s guide this primary season. When I called them, I was informed that the league didn’t have the resources necessary to get the guide out in time for the primary. As such, there will be no voter’s guide or any type of forum for candidates run by the league by primary day.

In this era of unprecedented polarization, I find it troubling that voters will be without the general information about the candidates that the league – a non-partisan organization – provides to the voters as a public service on a semiannual basis. Although technology has made it relatively easy for voters to find information about candidates for the offices at the federal and state level, the information provided by the league on county and local offices is sometimes the only information that many voters will receive about candidates in those races.

Furthermore, the league’s candidate forums provide the public with the opportunity to ask the difficult questions of candidates and to assess their attempts to answer them.

A well-informed electorate is necessary to preserve and protect our democratic institutions, and the league’s role in providing this information will be sorely missed on May 15.

I certainly hope that whatever has caused the league to be unable to publish its voter’s guide can be rectified by the time the general election rolls around in November and in the years to come.

Joe Zupancic

Canonsburg

Zupancic is a candidate for state representative in the 48th Legislative District.