NORTHAMPTON — The final Democratic candidate forum planned in the race for sheriff of Hampshire County will be Thursday at the Northampton Center for the Arts, two days before the deadline to register to vote in the state’s party primaries.
The audience will get the chance to ask questions of the three Democratic candidates during the 7 p.m. forum, which is sponsored by the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Northampton and Amherst chapters of the League of Women Voters.
Doors for the free event at 33 Hawley St. will open at 6:30 p.m. and the forum wraps up at 8:30. No campaign materials or activities will be allowed in the room during the forum.
Sheriff Patrick Cahillane is running for a second six-year term against Yvonne Gittelson of Goshen, the state education department’s corrections program specialist, and corrections nurse Caitlin Sepeda of South Hadley, both of whom formerly worked for Cahillane’s administration. The candidates are competing for the Democratic nomination in the Sept. 6 party primary; the winner will not face a Republican opponent in the Nov. 8 general election.
Northampton Open Media and Amherst Media plan to broadcast the forum live on their respective communities’ public access TV stations and a livestream will be available on YouTube. Organizers plan to make a YouTube video and a Spanish translation available the next day.
“As one of the few contested county offices in this year’s primaries, the race for sheriff brings to light the importance of this arm of local law enforcement,” organizers said in a statement. “Sheriffs oversee county jails and houses of correction, providing needed health and educational services to inmates. Their leadership has an impact on drug addiction and mental health treatment, vocational training and prisoner reentry back into their communities.”
The sheriff oversees the Hampshire County Jail & House of Correction in Northampton and associated programs and facilities.
Brigid Glackin, one of the forum’s organizers, said it continues a tradition of nonpartisan and impartial voter engagement that dates back to the League of Women Voters’ founding in 1920.
“The purpose of the organization was to finish the fight to bring access to the vote to all,” Glackin said. “We see this as part of that. We could say voter education, but it’s mostly engagement. … Regardless of people’s disengagement from politics, local issues remain very important to people who are discouraged from participating nationally.”
The forum’s moderator is league member Kathy Campbell, a resident of Franklin County. Panelists include Chad Cain, the incoming managing editor of the Gazette, and Jean Cherdack, a League of Women Voters of Massachusetts board member.
Glackin said the capacity of the room is about 200 and the event will follow the Northampton Center for the Arts’ policy that “masks are appreciated. They’re not mandatory.” Free masks will be provided at the door.
All three candidates will answer each question, some of which were gathered from the public ahead of time and others that will be provided by the audience at the forum.
“There’s no gotcha questions and no ad hominem. … We’re not going to use questions like that,” Glackin said. “We don’t have live questions from the floor. They write them down and pass them down, and we have volunteers collecting them.”
The League of Women Voters has established an interactive website, Vote411.org, that allows voters to view their upcoming election ballots and information about each candidate. All three candidates for sheriff also filled out questionnaires about their stances on issues like free phone calls for inmates, cooperation with federal immigration enforcement and reducing recidivism.
Cahillane, Gittelson and Sepeda have met up for two in-person forums to date. The first was held in Easthampton on Aug. 4 and the second was Aug. 11 in Williamsburg.
Cahillane’s opponents have alleged that the facility suffers from low employee morale, outdated technology and methods, and a lack of clear vision at the top, among other shortcomings like inadequate staffing and employee training opportunities. During the Williamsburg forum, the incumbent defended his record against criticism — saying “we are doing what we are supposed to do” — and said that he wants to advance the facility’s correctional model to reduce the number of people jailed on site.
“I am still really eager for more people to learn more about the role of the sheriff in any Massachusetts county and to ask questions to learn more about the sheriff’s office,” Gittelson said Monday. “It’s a chance for people to make some final decisions, make up their minds and educate others as they bring their own questions to the forum. … I’m sharing some information that people have never heard before.”
“This is the opportunity for voters to use their voice before voting,” Sepeda said, encouraging those who haven’t seen the prior two forums to join. “If people are interested in asking more specific questions that are not being covered by the hosts of the event, this would be a great opportunity to do it.”
Voters can register until Aug. 27. The deadline to submit a vote-by-mail application is Aug. 29. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 6.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.