Candidates for Elmore County and District 8 seats gathered in Mountain Home on Monday night to address community concerns ahead of the May 19 primary elections.The political forum, hosted by the Mountain Home Chamber of Commerce , comes as all contested seats in the primary are held by Republicans. WATCH | Neighbors concerns addressed at political forum Elmore County and District 8 candidates address Mountain Home neighbors concerns at public forumCandidates for Elmore County Clerk answered questions about maintaining election security following issues with missed ballots during the 2025 election cycle.RELATED | Elmore County races could flip after the recount of roughly 300 uncounted ballots"To see that that does not ever happen again because that really leads to questioning our county, and we just, we don't want to have that," Becky Garvey said."We currently make sure that all of the ballots are secured. We always kind of keep two people with ballots at all times," Julie Kennedy said.Elmore County Commissioner candidates addressed rapid growth in the area."That's something that, as a county commissioner that you do have a little bit of sway toward, is what can we do to promote industry in small communities," Kelly Riggs said."And I wanted to run because I realized that we have a lot of growth coming, and I think it's going to take somebody with construction, budget, finance, and agriculture background to do that," Wren Hernandez said.District 8 State House and Senate candidates were asked about their interpretation of the First Amendment. All expressed support for free speech, while some shared differing views on how the separation of church and state should be interpreted."We can do a lot of things under the First Amendment, and I do support it 100%, but let's please learn there is no separation of church and state in our Constitution," Faye Thompson said."They twisted Thomas Jefferson's letter and turned it around. It's actually the separation is of state from church. Having said that, everyone has a right to free speech, and I respect that right," Sean Hall said.Other candidates emphasized a different priority, saying lawmakers should focus on the core responsibilities of the role rather than broader social debates."Those are the responsibilities. They aren't necessarily to decide, you know, a lot of social wars, but your two base responsibilities are balance the budget and review the rules," Megan Blanksma said.The primary elections take place on May 19.This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been, in part, converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. ...read more read less