For the first time in a long time, Washington County’s Primary Election will determine which candidates will be on the ballot for the Washington County Board of Education in the General Election in November. That’s because we have more than double the candidates running for the 4 seats that are up for election in this voting cycle. The top 8 vote getters from the May 14 Primary will advance to the November ballot. The WCBOE election is one of the most important races for Washington County voters in 2024 – as important as the Senate race, Congressional District 6 race, and the other national races that seem to take up all the oxygen in the room.
Current Board members running for re-election are as follows: Melissa Williams (President), Stan Stouffer (Vice-President), Pieter Bickford, and April Zentmeyer. In addition, there are 7 challengers. These include (in alphabetical order) Victoria Beachley, Charles A. Burkett, Nancy Lee Evans, Michael P. Keifer, Ethan Loewen, Ashley McCusker, and Robin Merchant Spickler.
The Board of Education Election is nonpartisan. Voters who are not registered as Democrats or Republicans can vote in the election. All candidates for BOE will be on a separate ballot for Libertarian and unaffiliated/independent voters and on the Democratic and Republican primary ballots as well.
WCTA’s Goverment Relations (GR) Committee has been working through the endorsement process to make recommendations for the MSEA Apple Ballot Pro-Public Education Voter Guide. All 11 candidates were invited to participate. Candidates who wanted to participate were given the opportunity to complete a standard questionnaire and engage in an interview. The WCESP GR Committee is also involved in the process and interview team.
The following candidates turned in questionnaires: Pieter Bickford, Nancy Evans, Michael Kiefer, Stan Stouffer, Robin Merchant Spickler, Melissa Williams, and April Zentmeyer. Their responses are now posted below so that voters can access them to read/review.
The following candidates did not respond to the questionnaire and/or to WCTA’s efforts to reach them: Victoria Beachley, Charles Burkett, Ethan Loewen, and Ashley McCusker.
The WCTA GR Committee will be making recommendations about candidate endorsements to the WCTA Board of Directors at the April 3 business meeting. If approved, the endorsements will be announced on the WCTA website and sent to members via personal email addresses.
For information about early voting and polling locations, voters can go to https://www.washco-mdelections.org/ or contact the county Election Board at 240-313-2050 or [email protected].
Completed Questionnaires Received by WCTA (Posted in Alphabetical Order):
2024 candidate- Pieter Bickford
2024 candidate- Michael Keifer
2024 candidate – Stan Stouffer
2024 candidate – Robin Merchant Spickler
2024 candidate – Melissa Williams
2024 candidate – April Zentmeyer