Thousands of voters in the 2022 election cycle for school board didn’t vote for the Washington County Board of Education seats and only voted the top of ticket races (like for governor). That’s significant because the local school board races are often determined by just hundreds of votes – and sometimes by less than a hundred votes. Every voter needs to understand what’s at stake when these vital local races are decided by a minority of voters. This year, four seats are on the ballot in the school board race, with eight candidates on the November 5, 2024, ballot.
One key distinction in this year’s race is political ideology and alignment. The WCTA’s recommended four Apple Ballot candidates are not all the same political party. Pieter Bickford is an Independent; Robin Spickler is Democrat; Stan Stouffer and Melissa Williams are Republicans. The “dark apple” candidates are all Republicans, and many of their ads are funded through the Washington County Republican Central Committee. These four include Ashley McCusker, Victoria Beachley, Charlie Burkett, and April Zentmeyer. Two of those candidates, McCusker and Beachley, didn’t have time to attend the Chamber’s breakfast forum held in October. But all 4 are in lock step regarding the top talking points of the Washington County Republican Central Committee.
The Apple Ballot process is a long established, nonpartisan opportunity for candidates to seek endorsement from the local and state education associations. You can read the questionnaires of those who participated in the process on the WCTA website and review the primary results at https://mywcta.org/…/may-14-primary-results-for-wcboe…/
If you can volunteer to support the local Apple Ballot BOE candidates by handing out Apple Ballots to voters at the polls on Election Day, please contact Carol Mowen at the WCTA Office. You can also pick up yard signs from the office. In addition, the MyWCTA Linktree has options for signing up for Apple Ballot shifts online.
For the entire list of Apple Ballot candidates for any election or county in Maryland, go to https://mdappleballot.com/
