LWVCC Candidate Forum Guidelines - April 6 Local Election

League of Women Voters Guidelines for Candidate Forums            8/21/2020       

1. The League Voter Service Chair must have a minimum of two weeks’ notice for any forum and must have a contact person for each candidate for confirming both format and guidelines of the forum.
2. All contact regarding forums must be through the Chair for Candidate Forums.
3. The Moderator will state the rules and explain the format. The rules and format will have been previously sent to the candidates by mail or e-mail. The Moderator will be responsible for enforcing the time limits and may interrupt the forum to enforce the ground rules.
4.  Alphabetical order by last name will determine the order in which candidates will give opening and closing statements.
5. Candidates will alternate the order of speaking. The candidate who makes the first opening statement will move to the “end of the line” for the first question, and this will continue throughout the questioning.
6. Candidates’ statements and responses will be timed. Volunteers will keep time and display countdown cards visible to the candidates and the moderator. (Candidates must be able to see timekeepers)
7. Candidates will be allowed two minutes to make an opening statement, one minute to answer the questions and two minutes to make a closing statement.
8. Audience questions will be submitted prior to the forums via email, web form, and by phone and through Facebook Chat during the live stream, sorted by the question’s sorters, and read by the Moderator. Questions will be reviewed and selected for appropriateness and to avoid duplication.
9. Participation rules:
   1. There must be a minimum of two candidates in a race to have a forum.
   2. If one candidate declines to come, no forum will be held for that contest.
   3. For a last-minute cancellation we can allow the designated representative of the candidate to take his or her place, make opening and closing statements and respond to questions.
   4. If there are three candidates in a race, a forum can proceed with two candidates present and one declining to participate.
   5. If there are two candidates available plus one refusing to participate for two seats, we can still hold a forum.
   6. If, at the last minute, one candidate can’t come and sends no representative, the other candidate will be given five minutes for a statement.
10. No visual aids will be permitted.
11. No voice, image or other duplication of the forum may be used by any candidate, representative, or campaign in any campaign advertising. Posting links to the entire section of the forum in which a candidate appears is encouraged.
12. Any person requesting a recording of the forum will be given a copy of these rules.   
13. If the Program, approved at the Annual Meeting, takes a position on an issue, an       informational forum may be held on that issue.
14. Co-sponsors:
    1. Must be approved by the Board, following LWVIL guidelines, in advance of any meeting organizing a forum.
    2. Cannot be organizations that publicly endorse candidates at any level, federal, state, or local.
15. Co-sponsors should generally be kept to a minimum to avoid confusion.
16. Interested groups should be encouraged to attend forums, either together or by a single representative, and to submit questions.
17. Our traditional co-sponsors are the NAACP, Champaign County Chapter, The News-Gazette, and Illinois Public Media (WILL)