If “all politics is local,” then April 2 is a big day for voters in Southwest Missouri.
Learn about area school board candidates on your ballot through candidate interviews hosted by the Informed Voter Coalition, a collaboration of 14 nonpartisan organizations.
Candidates will share their ideas and goals in brief conversations to air on KSMU Ozarks Public Radio (91.1 FM). Video versions produced by the Springfield News-Leader will be available afterwards on demand on coalition members’ websites.
The coalition selected five contested races for area public school boards of education. Here’s the schedule (for details, see below):
- March 18 – Nixa Public Schools
- March 19 – Ozark Public Schools
- March 20 – Willard Public Schools
- March 21 – Springfield Public Schools
- March 22 – Springfield Public SchoolsEducating voters about the candidates they’ll see on their ballots is key to the mission of the Informed Voter Coalition. In these interviews, voters can hear from the candidates in their own words before heading to their polling place.
Details: Candidate Interviews for April 2 Elections
Nixa Public Schools (airs March 18 at noon, KSMU, 91.1 FM)
Hosted by Leadership Springfield & Show Me Christian County
Candidates: Megan Deal, Elizabeth Dudash-Buskirk, Jason Massengale, Joshua K Roberts
Ozark Public Schools (airs March 19, noon, KSMU, 91.1 FM) Hosted by Missouri State University’s Office of Public Affairs Candidates: James Francis Griffin, Patty Quessenbury
Willard Public Schools (airs March 20, noon, KSMU, 91.1 FM)
Hosted by League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri & NAACP Springfield Candidates: Renee McKelvie, Megan Patrick, Matthew Young
Springfield Public Schools (airs March 21 & 22, noon, KSMU, 91.1 FM)
Hosted by Ozarks Technical Community College’s Social Sciences Department
Candidates: Scott Crise, Danielle Kincaid, Landon McCarter, Maryam Mohammadkhani, Susan Provance, Chad Rollins, Kyler-Sherman-Wilkins
Informed Voter Coalition
Launched in 2019, the Informed Voter Coalition has a goal of educating voters and engaging candidates with citizens. All organizations are nonpartisan. Members are:
- Be Civil Be Heard
- Drury University’s L.E. Meador Center for Politics & Citizenship
- Junior League of Springfield
- KSMU Ozarks Public Radio
- Leadership Springfield
- League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri
- Missouri State University’s Office of Public Affairs
- NAACP Springfield
- Ozarks Technical Community College’s Social Sciences Department
- Rosie
- Show Me Christian County
- Springfield Business Journal
- Springfield-Greene County Library District
- Springfield News-LeaderFor more information, contact Liz Wertz at 417.699.0426 or elizabethwertz220@gmail.com