FORT SMITH (KFSM)- The Democratic candidates for Sebastian County Judge participated in a town hall meeting called, "Face The Voters," touching on topics including infrastructure and issues they wanted to address in the county.
Ken Blevins is the former Sebastian County Circuit Clerk and said a lot of people in lower Sebastian County are being left out.
"We have closed fire houses and I think we`re planning on closing two more," Blevins said. "We have people in Lavaca and one person I know has waited four hours to get on an ambulance."
Mosie Boyd is a Fort Smith attorney and former Chair of the Sebastian County Democratic Party. Boyd said focusing on school safety and families is important.
"We have the second highest rate of children living in foster care and that`s directly related to having the second highest rate of drug arrests," Boyd said. "So, we know that drug court works and veterans court works."
Six deputy clerks came forward in 2011 and filed sexual harassment claims against Blevins, but Blevins said he's innocent and that's all in the past.
"The accusations were brought forth by David Hudson," Blevis said. "They were false when they were made and they`re still false, so I don`t even consider that they`re important at this point."
Boyd has publicly said she joined the county judge race to defeat Blevins.
"We don`t need to mess that up by electing someone who has a history of investigations and crisis and distraction," Boyd said. "We are at a key point of moving forward and that`s what our community needs to do."
Voters said they were able to see both sides, bringing them one step closer to deciding who they'll vote for May 22.
"As far as the debate goes, the tough questions haven`t been answered yet," Charles Pennington, Fort Smith resident said. "Hopefully they will."
"It gave me the opportunity to listen to both sides for the candidates and to make a decision," Rhonda Royal, Sebastian County Quorum Court member. "I do vote early voting and that does begin May 7, so that`s why I came out to see exactly what they stood for."
The Democratic candidate who wins the Primary next month will face incumbent Republican, David Hudson in the November general election. Hudson has been holding the seat for county judge since 1998.
Again, the Primary Election is on Tuesday (May 22).
The next "Face The Voters" Town Hall will be on Wednesday (May 2) and includes the candidates for Fort Smith Mayor. Those candidates are State Representative George McGill and UA-Fort Smith student, Luis Andrade. For more about the event, click here.