"Meet the Candidates" Concept

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In recent years, California has tightened up the way elections are conducted in community associations. I think this is generally good, as people should be able to truly vote in secret, and they should make their own choices rather than turn the decision over to the association president or whoever comes knocking on their door asking for their proxy.

Some of the downsides are that I don't believe you can "recall" your ballot once you've voted, and most people have voted by the time the annual meeting comes along. It's far less likely, then, that the majority of the community will get a chance to hear the candidates speak and pose questions to them before making a decision.

So here's a thought I'd like to throw out to my readers: what would you say to a "Seabridge Candidates' Forum" here on The Bridge? The concept would be as follows:

• Readers submit questions that they would like posed to all candidates.

• All candidates are invited to participate and will be "featured" a few days apart, with the order determined by random drawing.

• Each candidate who chooses to participate can provide further information to the community on why they should be elected, and will be asked to answer the submitted questions.

• The Comments section will be a way for you to follow up with the candidate with additional questions and responses.

Weigh in with your feedback and additional suggestions on this concept in the Comments section of this post. And in the meantime, you can get the word out to your neighbors so that we have a good audience for such an event. I anticipate that this discussion will take place in the homeowners-only section of The Bridge so interested homeowners can shoot me an e-mail to gain access to that.