On Tuesday, July 10, the Community and Government Affairs Team of the Haralson County Chamber of Commerce will host a candidate forum at Sewell Mill in Bremen.

“One of our goals this year is to better inform the citizens about what’s going on in local government,” said Community and Government Affairs Team Chair Janie Holder. “We felt this would be a good first start toward that goal.”

Holder said the team hopes to help local citizens become informed voters who know the platforms of everyone running for office. So far, most candidates have sent in their RSVPs.

“We’ve invited anyone to the forum who will have an impact on Haralson County,” Holder said Friday. “We’ve gotten confirmations from most, and we’re doing follow up calls.”

According to Holder, each candidate will get 3 minutes to present their platform. The presentations will be followed by questions previously submitted by Chamber members.

“We asked that our members provide us with office-specific questions to ask during the forum,” Holder said. “So each set of candidates will have their own set of questions related to the office they are running for. After that, if there’s time, we’ll take questions from the audience.”

While the schedule has not yet been set in stone, Holder says the candidates for District Attorney will go first as they are scheduled for another debate in Cedartown on the same evening. Afterwards, other candidates will take the stage in groups according to their office.

“Hopefully, the event shouldn’t last more than two hours,” Holder said. “We’re going to have a moderator to help keep order and get through in a timely manner.”

Randy Sanders will be the moderator for the evening.

Residents will have a chance to meet and hear the platforms for most candidates running in the July 31 primary.

There will be federal, state and local seats on the ballot this summer. In addition to a U.S. Senate position and U.S. Representative position, the Georgia Senate seat for District 31 will be up for election, as well as Georgia Representative seats for Districts 16 and 18.

Locally, voters will be voting on Haralson County Board of Education seats in Districts 1 and 3, Commission seats for Districts 1 and 3, Commission Chairman, Sheriff, Clerk of Court, Clerk of Superior Court, Probate Judge, Magistrate Judge, Superior Court Judge, District Attorney, Tax Commissioner, Coroner and Surveyor.

While not every candidate for every office will be in attendance, Holder expects a good turnout at the forum.

“Based on the responses we have gotten so far, we expect to have good representation from those running for office.”

Several other meet-and-greet events are scheduled this month as well.

The Haralson County Republican Women will be holding a Republican Candidate meet and greet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, July 12, at the Haralson County Fire Department, Station 3, Mountain View Community Center, located at 74 Mountain View Clubhouse Rd., Buchanan. There will also be a meet at greet at the Buchanan Highway VFW from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on July 21.