LWV Candidates Forum Preparation

Developed to help candidates and their supporters prepare for a Candidates Forum.

Shortly before nominating petitions are due, the president of the chapter appoints an event team consisting of about five members who will work on a Candidates Forum. Wherever possible the team is comprised of a member of the chapter board as well as a few League members who live outside the election district. This distribution helps us get the job done while maintaining balance, objectivity and non-partisanship. All team members must commit to keeping their personal views of the candidates private for the duration of the election cycle. All candidates are to be treated with respect, equally and without prejudice or favoritism. Moderators always come from League chapters outside the election district. Candidate Forums usually incorporate a program comprised of questions prepared by the Chapter followed by a period reserved for questions from the audience. Unless otherwise arranged all questions are directed by the moderator to each candidate. In order to identify and address the key issues deemed significant by most residents of the Election District the Chapter determines its questions in the following manner: Each candidate is invited to submit a list of suggestions. An array of community leaders are invited to do the same. Each member of the event team assembles a list of their own. In advance of the Forum, the event team will meet to review all the questions that have come in by the deadline and work to identify the major issues of interest to the broadest cross section of the voters in the Election District. The event team prioritizes the questions so as to fit the time allotted in the evenings program format. That having been done, they redraft each question to assure that the phrasing is as neutral as feasible, attempting to avoid even the perception of bias in any direction. The League never provides questions in advance to any participant or any other outside party other than the moderator. It is not uncommon, however, that some Forum participants are better prepared for League questions than others. Such is only a result of anticipation and careful preparation by those participants. Never are any participants given direct or indirect insights into the questions the League compiles. We also keep recordings of past Candidate Forums on our Facebook page (Facebook/LWVRRBPC). Valuable insight might be gained by watching how other candidates have handled the Leagues format and questions. Any questions may be directed to the team captain or the League president.