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Questions for candidates in the June 30 Shawnee municipal election are now being accepted by PAVE (Pottawatomie Advocates for Voter Education).

PAVE will host a Candidate Forum for the city races at 7 pm on Thursday, June 11, at Shawnee City Hall. However, the event is not open to the public, so voters are asked to submit questions in advance by email to be asked by the moderator.

Send the questions to [email protected] by 5 pm Tuesday, June 9. PAVE members will screen the questions for duplication, relevance and appropriateness.

The June 11 forum, for city candidates, will begin with the commission candidates by ward and end with the mayor's race. Ward 2 candidates Elliot Shuler and Bob Weaver have already accepted the invitation to participate. Ward 3 candidates are Travis Flood and James Harrod; Harrod has accepted. Ward 4 candidates are Darren Rutherford and LaDonna Bryce; neither has responded.

Of the four candidates for mayor, Ed Bolt, Theresa Cody, Ron Gillham Jr. and Dean Hudlow, only Bolt and Cody have responded at this point.

The forum will be available live on Vyve channel 3 or online at http://www.shawneeok.org/services/video_multimedia/city_connect_live.php.

PAVE president Marilyn Bradford said the group discussed various ways to handle the forum in light of the pandemic, and with the help of Shawnee city officials decided to follow its usual format - except for no audience.

Only candidates, the press and a few staffers will be admitted to the commission chambers. All others will be turned away.

PAVE will host a second forum a week later, on June 18, at the same time and place. The June 18 forum will feature State Senate Dist. 17 candidates Brandon Baumgarten, Shane Jett and Ron Sharp; Senate Dist. 28 candidates Christian Ford, Mike Haines and Zack Taylor; Dist. 2 County Commissioner candidates Jason Evans and Randy Thomas; and sheriff candidates Mike Booth, Jeff Griffith and Ben Henderson. Already accepting for that forum are Griffith, Haines, Sharp and Thomas.

Email questions for that forum will be accepted through 5 pm Tuesday, June 16.

PAVE is a non-partisan voter education group that welcomes new members. If interested, leave a message on the PAVE Facebook page.