By Chelsea Vance | The Selma Times-Journal

A local group is giving Selma citizens an opportunity to get their questions answered before the next mayoral election.

One Selma: Coming Home United in Faith Committee Group is planning a mayoral forum for July or August before the election on Aug. 23.

Juanda Maxwell, one of the coordinators of One Selma and the forum, feels that it is important for the people of Selma to be educated and exercise their voting rights.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do. We want to do voter education as well as voter awareness while working up to the mayoral elections,” Maxwell said.

She said every month leading up to elections, the group will work to help Selma citizens see how important it is for them to participate in the election process.

“We believe that in order for Selma to sustain growth and to move into the next level, its leadership has to be accountable to the community,” Maxwell said. “We hope to inspire the community to actually go out and help in that decision.”

Prior to the debate, the group plans to solicit questions from community members.

Dr. Jerry Light of First Baptist Church, another coordinator of One Selma, has also been a part of the plans for the mayoral debate.

“It’s always important to be informed before you vote. We’re doing this as a service to the community, and we’re excited about it,” Light said. “It seems like we should have 100 percent in voting, but we don’t. We want to work to impact that.”

Final decisions about when the debate will be held and where voters can send in questions will be discussed at the group’s next meeting Feb. 9 at 6:30 p.m.

That meeting is open to the community and will be held at First Baptist Church, located at 325 Lauderdale Street in Selma. Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month.

“There were a lot of people who struggled hard to get the right to participate in choosing our leadership and its really important for all of us to go out and participate,” Maxwell said.

Overall, Maxwell and Light are looking to increase voting participation in Selma.

The One Selma group sponsored a Unity Walk with 2,000 marchers the first weekend of March as well as a return to worship Sunday this fall.