AU-Live attended Ashland Source’s “Talk the Vote” event last Wednesday, Oct. 13 at Uniontown Brewing Company to hear what the people of Ashland wanted to see from their city council candidates.

“Talk the Vote” was moderated by Dillon Carr, a staff reporter for Ashland Source who told us how the event came to be.

“It was an idea that came up in 2019 with Richland Source and it was something that nationally, we’ve seen work,” Carr recalled, “When the Source did it back in 2019, they went to each ward in Mansfield City and talked to the voters there about issues they wanted to have their candidates address. We took those ideas and put them all in a booklet and gave it to the newly-elected city council to say “here’s what your voters want you to focus on for the next four years.”

Carr also described the importance of “Talk the Vote” and how it gives the people a platform to speak their mind.

“In election cycles, candidates get to talk a lot,” Carr explained, “And they do, and they’re gifted speakers, but sometimes the voice of the actual voter gets lost, ignored or left behind. So this is just giving a platform for the people to talk about the vote.”

Several issues people deal with on a daily basis were brought up during “Talk the Vote” including flooding in homes, parking and what city council might do with $2.1 million. But most interesting were the number of different individuals at the event including some who can’t vote yet. One such individual was Anna Slade, a student of Ashland High School who was interested in the event.

“Yes, I can’t vote at all,” Slade admitted, “But I thought [the event] went pretty well, I think it was a pretty civil discussion overall and I don’t think anyone was hostile towards anyone else.”

Slade also discussed how “Talk the Vote” achieved its goal of giving a voice to the people by saying, “I think there were a lot of people to voice their opinions in a good way without being too crazy which is important overall.”

Slade concluded by giving a call to action for younger members to get involved in hard-hitting subjects like politics.

“I think it’s important for young people to be involved in their community,” Slade explained, “I know I am one of the few who actually care about this so I think it’s important for there to be a younger representative in talks like this.”