Immigrant, communities of color group to host mayoral candidate forum

A county ballot drop box in Skyway. The box says “vote” and “ballot drop box” in Spanish, Chinese, English, Vietnamese and Korean — the languages that are available on county ballots. (Photo via King County Elections Twitter.)

The Coalition of Immigrants, Refugees and Communities of Color will host its Mayoral Candidates Forum this Saturday July 15 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. at the Eritrean Association in Greater Seattle.

Candidates scheduled to attend include Gary Brose, Jessyn Farrell, Bob Hasegawa, Mike McGinn, Cary Moon and Nikkita Oliver, from 10:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. At 12:30 p.m., scheduled candidates include Tiniell Cato, Jenny Durkan, Harley Lever, James Norton and Jason Roberts.

The Eritrean Association is located at 1528 Valentine Pl. S, Seattle, WA 98144. Tickets to the free event are available on Eventbrite.

The forum kicks off the coalition’s voter education campaign, which received a grant of $22,000 from the 2017 Voter Education Fund, which is organized by the Seattle Foundation and King County Elections. Thirty local groups received $435,000 to remove barriers to voting in diverse communities, according to King County Elections. The Coalition of Immigrants, Refugees and Communities of Color received the largest grant.

The Coalition’s members come from different ethnic backgrounds, including East African, Latino, Southeast Asian, and others. The group organizes civic engagement activities such as candidate forums and community oriented discussions about policy issues that impact immigrants, refugees and people of color throughout Seattle.

This year, the coalition has expanded to include two new churches, Beacon Methodist Church and Blaine Memorial Church, and students at Seattle Central College and the University of Washington, according to a coalition press release.

King County Elections mailed ballots to voters on Wednesday. Ballots must be postmarked or turned in to a ballot drop box by Aug. 1.