Encinitas council candidate forums begin this week

There’s a wealth of options when it comes to watching the Encinitas City Council and mayoral candidates debate during this election season.

Starting Oct. 3, the Cardiff, Olivenhain and Leucadia area town council organizations will host voter education events in a range of formats.

The Leucadia-Encinitas Town Council is sticking with the online, Zoom meeting format it first used two years ago at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Designed to allow people to come together in a health-safe fashion, the Zoom forum turned out to have an unexpected benefit, town council member Kathleen Lees said Friday.

Because it was recorded, both the League of Women Voters North County San Diego, which organized the event, and the individual candidates ended up with video they could later post on their web sites, she said. The Leucadia organization is partnering again with the league so that voters who can’t join the Zoom meetings can later watch the events on the league’s web site or a candidate’s web site.

The Cardiff-by-the-Sea Town Council is doing its candidate events — one for the mayoral candidates and one for the Cardiff district council candidates — in person, but questions have to be submitted well in advance of each event. Meanwhile, the Olivenhain Town Council is hosting one in-person event at its historic meeting hall that will feature both the mayoral and the City Council candidates.

Cardiff’s town council will host the first of the season’s forum. It’s at:

6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3, at Ada Harris Elementary School’s Auditorium. It features the two candidates for council District 3 — appointed Councilmember Joy Lyndes and community advocate Julie Thunder. The deadline for submitting questions for that forum has already past.

The organization also has a second forum planned for:

6 p.m., Oct. 10, at Ada Harris School. This one is for the four mayoral candidates — community volunteer Michael “Myekah” Blobe, small business owner Cindy Cremona, City Councilmember Tony Kranz and community advocate Jeff Morris.The deadline to submit questions for that event is Oct. 6 and people can submit them to EncMayorQuestions@gmail.com

The Olivenhain Town Council’s in-person event is set for:

6:30-9 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 5, at the Olivenhain Meeting Hall. It’s for the candidates for mayor as well as the four candidates for the District 4 council seat — business owner Stacie Davis, technology executive Bruce Ehlers, educator/parent Pamela “Pam” Redela and scientist/community volunteer Dan Vaughn.

There are three online Encinitas forums moderated by the League of Woman Voters of North County San Diego. They are set for:

• 7-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6. Features the candidates for mayor.
• 6-7 p.m. Oct. 11. Features the candidates for council District 3, which primarily covers the Cardiff area.
• 7:15-8:15 p.m., also on Oct. 11, features the candidate for council District 4, which covers Olivenhain and parts of New Encinitas.

The online events will begin with opening statements from each of the participating candidates. After the introductions, the moderator asks pre-submitted questions and each candidate will be given equal time to respond. Questions must be submitted 24 hours before the event. For directions on submitting questions and/or joining the Zoom meeting, visit the league’s website at: https://my.lwv.org/california/north-county-san-diego.

People can also watch these forums via the league’s YouTube channel.