Residents urged to vote during NAACP candidate forum
♦ Rome candidates fielded eight questions from audience members Thursday.
Get out and vote. That was the main message heard by more than 45 voters gathered for more than three hours Thursday night at the NAACP Candidate Forum for the Rome City Commission race.
“I’m probably the only member of this panel up here who at one time couldn’t vote,” said Commissioner Milton Slack, a black resident who has lived in the same house off Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. for 49 years and represented Ward 1 for 12 years. “So it’s a very important thing to me to be able to vote. I would walk 90 miles in the snow to vote.”
Slack, who missed the first candidate forum hosted by the Floyd County GOP due to a previously-scheduled engagement in New York, added later he also recalled having to clean restrooms he wasn’t permitted to use because of the color of his skin.
Slack was joined at the front table at the Willingham Community Room by fellow Ward 1 incumbent Sundai Stevenson and challengers Mark Cochran and Jim Bojo, as well as Ward 3 incumbents Bill Collins and Craig Mcdaniel and challengers Bonny Askew and J.J. Walker Seifert.
Ward 1 incumbent Bill Irmscher was not in attendance at this fifth such gathering of the candidates within the past month. Voters were encouraged to write questions for the candidates on index cards, which were reviewed by a panel of three people first to ensure appropriateness.
The Rome-floyd NAACP joined with Aarp-etowah Chapter, Rome Alumnae
Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., Northwest Georgia Housing Authority, MLK Jr. Commission of Rome-northwest Georgia and 100 Black Men of Northwest Georgia to provide the forum, complete with refreshments and decorated tables.
Three of the eight questions asked of candidates centered on voter access and security and on how candidates have supported diversity in the community.
Stevenson, the first black woman to serve on the City Commission, told voters she holds sacred what her forefathers fought and died for.
“For a long time we didn’t have the right to vote, so whatever I can do to ensure we continue with the right to vote for generations that come after me, I’ll do it,” said Stevenson, a former social worker who works in affordable housing.
Collins, Rome’s first black mayor, said he’s grateful his fellow commissioners and groups like the NAACP stood up when the Floyd County Board of Elections and Registration did not include weekend voting during the early voting period.
“It’s our job to make sure you have every opportunity to vote,” Collins said.
Askew, a member of 100 Black Men of Rome-floyd County, said he recently attended a family reunion where the struggles of previous generations were discussed.
“My great-grandfather paid a poll tax to vote,” Askew said. “It was more money than he had, but he scraped up the money to go vote. So I would be remiss if I didn’t honor that right to vote so many struggled for. This includes bringing more polling places back for our citizens. I will stand toe to toe with anybody who wants to deny anybody the right to vote.”
Mcdaniel agreed with fellow commissioners about ensuring weekend voting is preserved, but he said the greatest barrier is actually apathy.
“This will be a low turnout election,” said Mcdaniel, a former technical college administrator who now sells commercial real estate. “People don’t have an understanding of what we do and they do not want to go and vote. I hope I’m wrong and that we have a really good turnout this election. That’s the biggest challenge to any community — people who have earned the right to vote, but they sit at home.”
Seifert, who has her own Rome law firm, refused to agree with Mcdaniel when it comes to voter apathy.
She pointed to her 14-yearold daughter Carson sitting at a table near the candidate panel and asked her how many times she has gone with her to vote.
“Fourteen times,” Carson said as Seifert laughed.
Seifert said she loves to vote on Election Day and has instilled that love in her two children.
“As far as my friends of color, I am so glad they are able to vote. It’s a constitutional right,” said the twotime cancer survivor. “I am an eternal optimist and I think it’s going to be a great turnout because you all are going to go vote. I don’t even know what’s going on in national politics because I’m going to tell you right now that what happens on the City Commission affects us all on a daily basis more than anything else in the news. Go vote. It’s important.”