Washington’s Secretary of State, Kim Wyman, will visit Ocean Shores this Thursday, May 2, as the guest speaker at the weekly Community Voices meeting at 11 a.m. at the North Beach Senior Center, 885 Ocean Shores Blvd NW.

Ocean Shores City Council member Susan Conniry, who organized the group three years ago and serves as a moderator for the weekly discussions, explained why she was pleased that Wyman agreed to visit the North Coast.

“We have our election cycle coming up with the mayor and five council positions, and we thought it would be a good idea to have her come and discuss the process… a timely discussion to help people to actually understand how it works,” she said.

First elected in 2012, Wyman is midway through her second term as only the second female Secretary of State in Washington’s history. Prior to being elected to this office, she served as Thurston County elections director for nearly a decade and was elected Thurston County auditor from 2001-2013.

Held each Thursday at 11 a.m., Community Voices meetings are open to the public, and they typically attract 25-40 attendees. The meetings are intentionally informal, and when a speaker is present, the usual format is a few minutes of that person explaining who they are and what they do, followed by questions and the discussions that arise.

Dozens of elected and appointed officials from city, county and state government, along with various business and non-profit leaders, have visited the group since its inception.