Candidate Forums
What is a Candidate Forum?
A Candidate Forum is a meeting to gather the community, whether virtually or in person, to hear all of the candidates for a particular race in the community. Every year state and local Leagues host candidate forums, debates and “meet and greet” events for candidates running at all levels of government, from congressional races to statewide offices, city government, local school boards, and everything in between.
What is Candi-Dating?
Candi-Dating is a new format where the candidates spend time at several tables of voters. This promotes more direct communication between candidates and voters.
Why do we present Candidate Forums?
Hearing and seeing candidates answer questions from the League and community or to engage in healthy debates before an election is an important part of our democracy. Candidate debates and forums help us determine which candidates align with our values and which ones we want to support with our votes. Due to our deep roots and long history of nonpartisanship, our community has put its trust in the League to host these events.
Who presents a Candidate Forum?
In Moore County the League of Women Voters work with other non-profit organizations to share the work of presenting candidate forums. During the 2023 election year, we cosponsored two forums with the Pinehurst Civic Group and West Southern Pines Civic Club and Southern Pines Civic Club. In 2024 we cosponsored a Candi Dating event for the Board of Education candidates with Moore County NAACP, Omicron Omega Omega Chapters-AKA Sorority and West Southern Pines Civic Club. In previous years, the League has worked with these organizations to share this work of community education.
What work is necessary to present a Candidate Forum?
An organization presenting a forum must:
• Identify a venue and date
• Invite Candidates/ participants and public
• Secure a moderator and timekeepers
• Obtain biographical information from candidates
• Prepare a flyer for publicity purposes
• Solicit and screen questions on relevant issues from member organizations
• Prepare a program as desired
• Distribute flyers, announcements, LTEs, press releases and media articles
• Manage the logistics of the Forum (Security, banners, water, name tents, greeters, prepare a script, arrange technical televising as desired)
• All aspects of the forum must be done in a non-partisan manner