Julie Garrett: Candidates Stood Up AAUW

To the Editor:

The goal of the AAUW is to advance the equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. Although we work on issues that involve women, we also deal with issues that affect the community at large. The local AAUW recently received an “Impact” grant from the national AAUW to increase voter awareness.

The American Association of University Women, in partnership with the League of Women Voters and the North Dakota Women’s Network, were scheduled to broadcast a voter forum— with the help of Prairie Public—at Mayville State University on Monday, September 6. The AAUW does not tell people how to vote, but merely provides them with a public forum to ask questions and engage candidates. Unfortunately, we have to announce that the event will be canceled due to lack of interest from the candidates to appear.

We received negative responses from three of the candidates and were quiet surprised. Rep. Earl Pomeroy, for example, has a 100% voting record on issues important to the AAUW, so we were disappointed that he wouldn’t come and address questions from the public. Only Tracy Potter responded positively to the invitation.
We’re hoping that the candidates will still respond to questions in written form, so we can have them published for the public to read. Although we are dissapointed that the candidate forum will not happen, we hope candidates will cooperate at least in this written format. 

-Julie Garrett, ND President, AAUW
Mayville