It’s all happening in a rush, but during the next few weeks Bainbridge Island voters should have sufficient opportunity to become well-informed about the dozen City Council and park board candidates before casting their ballots prior to the Aug. 18 primary election deadline.

The election is especially important for the city since voters overwhelmingly decided last May to switch from the mayor-council municipal system to council-manager, which gives the seven council members control of city government. Encouragingly, there are three candidates for each of the three wards (north, central and south) up for election this year.

Six of the nine candidates have never sought public office on the island (two have served on the council and another ran – but didn’t win – in 2007), so voters have much to learn about them and their proclivities if they were to be elected. Kitsap County will begin mailing ballots to registered voters on July 29, which means voters will have about 20 days before they must retun their ballots. Here are some of the ways residents can connect with the candidates:

July 28 – Kitsap County will post an Online Voter Guide (none will be printed) at www.kitsapgov.com.

July 31 – The Review will publish a special section on the council and park board (Position 4) races; issue-related stories on the four races also will be published on consecutive Fridays in the paper’s regular pages, beginning today (see Page A3).

Aug. 10 – The League of Women Voters of Kitsap County will introduce the nine council candidates at a forum set for 7 p.m. at City Council Chambers.

A Town Hall forum for all candidates also is being organized for the American Legion Hall, but the original date (July 30) didn’t work because it seems the editorial board for some newspaper in Bremerton had first dibs on them for that day. Stay tuned on that one.

So read up and get engaged with the candidates in order to become an informed voter when the time comes to choose the the ones you would like to put on the frying pan.