Election season is upon us and, locally, the ball got rolling Tuesday evening, June 21, with a candidate forum hosted by the Fountain Hills AZ Tea Party.

This was only the first of what we expect to be several such forums between now and Election Day, giving local candidates a chance to speak directly to the voters and answer their questions.

And that’s precisely where all of our readers come into play. The Times will cover events, forums and the like leading right up to the election, but we encourage local voters to get out and get informed from the first-person perspective, too.

At the town level, an uncontested mayoral seat will be joined by three open chairs on the Town Council that are waiting to be filled come August. While there are no upcoming elections for the Sanitary Board, the Fountain Hills Unified School District will also host an election for two seats in the coming months.

Profiles on candidates and additional information will be found in the pages of the your local paper, but forums like the one hosted last night offer an opportunity to have a more personal experience with the election process, hear directly from the folks vying for your vote, ask questions and, most importantly, get informed before filling out a ballot.

We encourage more local organizations to host such forums in the months between now and the elections and ask our readers to take advantage of whatever opportunities turn up. We’ve got some busy and important years ahead of us for both the town of Fountain Hills and its local school district, making the November election an especially important one.