Don’t miss chances, deadlines to toss hat in the political ring

Don’t miss chances, deadlines to toss hat in the political ring

One of my continuing frus- trations is that often the general public is unaware of election opportunities until it is too late. Potential candidates become aware of opportunities for public service only after filing deadlines or elections have come and gone.

We need to encourage our best and brightest to aspire to public office, whether they are “D” or “R”.

For 2015, there is still time to be a candidate for your local school board or for township trustee or township fiscal officer. The filing deadline for those offices is Aug. 5, 2015.

2016 will be an especially important election year; besides electing a president, we also elect most of our county leadership team, including two county commissioners, treasurer, clerk of courts, recorder, sheriff, engineer, coroner and prosecutor. We also elect our state representatives and members of Congress.

Because 2016 is a presidential election year, the primary election will be early — in March. As a result, the filing deadline to run for office in 2016 is this year, Dec. 9.

Now is the time to spread the word about opportunities for public service. We need to attract and encourage quality people to serve our community. We have seen too many examples of what happens when political insiders are the only ones running. If you are interested, now is the time to prepare.

To get more information, contact the board of elections at 330-783-2474 or your favorite political party. Republicans can call the local GOP office at 330-629-7006. There is plenty of information available about how to become a candidate.

Mark Munroe, Youngstown

Munroe is the chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party.