Ballots for this year’s primary election are expected to arrive in Big Island mailboxes by July 26 and Waimea Community Association wants voters to be as informed as possible before making their first choices.

The association will host its third online candidate forum from 5-8 p.m. today (Thursday, July) to introduce candidates for state Senate District 4, state House District 8 and County Council Districts 1 and 9. All candidates vying for those posts have been invited to participate and most are expected to attend, including:

• Senate District 4: Tim Richards and Nicholas Tancheff.
• House District 8: Makai Freitas, Monique CobbAdams Perreira and David Tarnas.
• County Council District 1: Heather Kimball.
• County Council District 9: Jeff Kalani Coakley, Cindy Evans and Chris “Kalei” Toafili.

Each candidate will have 15 minutes to interact with voters online, including a series of questions gleaned from the community. The community is urged to submit questions for the candidates relevant to the specific office they are seeking by emailing them to WaimeaCommunityAssociation@gmail.com.

The community is invited to watch the forum via the association’s Facebook page or YouTube channel.

To quickly access the program, visit the association’s website and click on the link on the home page. The forum also will be recorded and saved to the association’s YouTube channel and Facebook page for later on-demand viewing.

The primary election is Aug. 13. The general election is Nov. 8. To register to vote or update your voter registration, click here.

For more information about Waimea Community Association, contact James Hustace at 808-464-2570 or via email at JamesHustace@gmail.com, or click here.