The Feb. 25 candidate forum at the Technical College of the Lowcountry was a true embarrassment for our area.

State Rep. Shannon Erickson set up these meetings to give residents the chance to meet, listen to and ask questions of the 16 Republican candidates running for the 1st Congressional District seat.

I have attended all the meetings, and only two come to mind where the turnout was good, but not great. On Feb. 25, only 11 concerned citizens showed up for the two candidates.

Personally, I don't understand it. You hear people complaining about government all over the place, and yet when they have an opportunity to listen to candidates speak on important issues and answer questions posed by the audience, the turnout is abysmal. I felt sorry for Tim Larkin and Ric Bryant, two candidates who drove in lousy weather to Beaufort from their homes around Charleston only to face a virtually empty auditorium.

What is worse than making an uninformed decision about who you are going to vote for in the March 19 primary is that, if history holds true, less than 10 percent of the voting populace of Beaufort County will cast a vote. I suspect the May 7 general election will have a higher turnout, but then the choice will be easy; either you'll vote Republican or Democratic.

As a nation and as a congressional district, you deserve the government you vote for. We can see now what an ill-informed voting public has delivered.

Carl Wedler

Beaufort