With the summer drawing to a close, election season is upon us and a number of local groups have planned forums in Gloucester and Mathews counties to help keep the electorate informed of who their choices are in the Nov. 3 general election.

In Gloucester, a group called the Citizens for Accountable Government (CAG) has organized a town hall meeting to be held in the colonial courthouse beginning at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29, for candidates competing for contested offices in Gloucester County.

Candidates who will be participating in the meeting include Mary Hodges and Margaret Walker for clerk of court; Ken Larson and Robin Rice for the Ware district seat on the school board; Jarret Lee and Kevin Smith for the open at-large seat on the school board, and Clarence Bowser and Darrell Warren for sheriff.

Brian Bayford, spokesperson for the CAG, said the group is “an ad-hoc informal group of private individuals” that wishes to “provide candidates and voters a chance fo...