First, if you don’t know where to vote or need to see a ballot, click here and take care of that before reading on.
Done? Ok. So, a few weeks back, we helped out our friends at The Shreveport Times to promote a discussion event surrounding the December 6th runoff election in Shreveport. This runoff will determine our city’s next mayor, among other important positions – like the City Council members – which did not meet the 50% majority requirements to win outright during the November election cycle.
With the opportunity for creating a new standard for new administration, the Times spawned a forum called SBC Unfiltered before the November election. This forum aimed to connect the candidates with young Shreveporters to encourage open dialogue and transparency about plans for the city as well as stances on important issues. When the runoff was announced, the Unfiltered team saw an opportunity to re-engage candidates with the community to explore still-unanswered questions. 200 signatures were requested of Shreveport citizens aged 18-35 in order to formally petition the candidates to attend.
Now, with signatures in hand, The Times has announced that SBC Unfiltered: The Challenge will take place Thursday, Dec. 4th, 6:30 p.m. at artspace in downtown Shreveport ahead of the Runoff Election Day on Saturday, Dec. 6th. However, not all the candidates will be in attendance. Candidate Ollie Tyler has declined to participate, as she did to the offer for a debate on KSLA News 12 earlier this month, citing a desire to meet one on one with citizens instead. Both event invitations still stand for Tyler.
Because the event will feature only one mayoral candidate, Victoria Provenza, SBC Unfiltered has opened the event to runoff candidates of any office who wish to participate. Be sure to mark your calendars for this. It’s guaranteed to be fun – music and libations – and it’s important to the future of our community for citizens, especially young ones, to be engaged with their government.