Conflicting claims by a political candidate and an area non-profit organization took center stage Monday afternoon, less than 24 hours before polls open for the general election.

Members of the Lehighton 9/12 Project held a protest outside the Carbon County Democratic headquarters on South First Street in Lehighton.Around 10 people, many of them holding signs, spoke out against claims by Patti Borger, Democratic candidate for the 122nd district seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, in an advertisement Borger placed in the Times News.The advertisement addressed a proposed debate between Borger and her opponent, Republican incumbent Doyle Heffley.“Doyle Heffley has never invited me to a debate,” the advertisement said. “He did invite me to a candidates night, which was to be televised, but he backed out at the last minute. The 9-12 Project invited me to a debate, which I declined because the debate would not be televised live, but would be broadcast after editing. I think the viewers should see a real debate, not a cleaned up version.”Sandy Dellicker, president of the 9/12 Project, called the claim by Borger “appalling” at Monday’s protest.“We sent her a certified letter inviting her to a televised live debate,” Dellicker said. “We’ve been doing this for three years with other debates and it’s always been fair. Our board of directors didn’t even know the questions before hand. A panel of judges selected them. We wanted to do it to educate the citizens on the candidates’ policies.”The certified letter, a copy of which was provided by Dellicker, said “the debate will be televised live on TV-13, with the potential for over 100,000 viewers.Dellicker made it clear Monday that she wasn’t supporting any particular candidate, only trying to set the record straight.“For her to lie and say we didn’t offer live television is being very dishonest,” Dellicker said.Borger, who was campaigning Monday, was not present during the protest.She responded to the event by phone in the afternoon.“Mr. Heffley arranged for an interview between the two of us that would have been unedited and he backed out at the last minute,” Borger said. “This campaign is not about theatrics for me, it is about standing up for the families and businesses of Carbon County, restoring stable funding to schools and fighting for property tax reform.”Volunteers working at the Democratic headquarters did pass out Dunkin Donuts coffee and donuts to protesters.