This is the second article that highlights Smart Voter Leagues and their members in innovative efforts to inform and involve voters. The first article was about the Bakersfield League and their work with the Kern County officials to produce a "Get Out the Vote" video.

Today we doff our hats to the Humboldt County League for presenting the candidates for the Yurok tribal chair and vice-chair in two live, call-in forums on their local PBS station, KEET-TV, Channel 13, Eureka. (For the uninitiated, Humboldt County is redwood country in the Northwestern part of the state.)

All three candidates in each of the contests appeared and participated in the forums. The viewing audience for the first forum heard 19 of their phoned-in questions answered in an hour. At the second forum, 14 questions were addressed. Lorey Keele, president of the Humboldt County League, said, "There was feedback from the public about how good it was to have a forum for the Tribe and that the quality of the forum was very high."

According to Carol Masterson, the League's Voter Service Director, "The candidates from the Yurok Tribe were pleased as was the Tribe's elections department." The forum for tribal chair made page two in the Times-Standard the following day.

There are 4,307 members of the Yurok Tribe, 2101 of whom are voting members. The incumbent tribal chair, and a candidate for re-election, is Susan Masten, who also serves as President of the Congress of American Indians.

The primary election will take place on October 11. If neither race yields a majority vote for one candidate, a runoff election will take place on November 8.

All of us are proud of the Humboldt League for the many candidate forums they hold using TV as their medium, this time adding two more to their already heavily-committed schedule.