Candidate Forums - 2021 Spring Election

What Are Candidate Forums? 

The League of Women Voters of Champaign County, the NAACP, Champaign County Branch and the News-Gazette are  co-sponsoring Candidate Forums for the 2021 elections. Candidate Forums offer local residents the opportunity to hear from candidates in an election in a nonpartisan setting.

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Forums Overview for Spring 2021

• Candidate Forums for the February 23 Primary Election in the cities of Champaign and Urbana were held and recorded in January 2021.  Links to these videos are on this page. 
• ​Candidate Forums for the April 6 Local (Municipal) Election will be held the first two weeks of March 2021. Videos for these Forums will be available as they are recorded starting March 12.  Scroll down for  information.
• You can submit questions for the March recordings for the April 6 election. See "Ask the Candidates" information below. 

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Forums for April 6 Local (Municipal) Election

Ask the Candidates! 

Candidate Forums for the April Local (Municipal) Election will be held in the first two weeks in March.  The Forums are not open to the public but will be recorded and aired beginning March 12. Forums are planned for these races: 

• Champaign City Council 1, 3, and 4
• Urbana Alderman Wards 2,  4 and 6
• Parkland Trustee 6 year term
• Champaign Park District Commissioner
• Urbana Park District Commissioner
• Village of Savoy Trustee
• Urbana School Board subdistricts 3 and 7

​As with previous Forums, the April 6 Candidate Forums are  co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters, Champaign branch of the NAACP and The News-Gazette.  

You can submit your questions for the candidates on this Ask the Candidates page.  Fill out the form and press the Submit button.  Questions must be received by March 14, 2021.  

Or, you can: 

• Email your question for the candidates to  askthecandidates@lwvchampaigncounty.org
• Phone your question in by calling 815-450-9658

You'll need to indicate which race your question is for. Also please phrase your question so that all candidates of that position can answer the question. 

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Videos for the April Local Election Candidate Forums 

 Video recordings be available starting March 12.   You can find links to the recordings at the following locations. 

• Youtube site for LWVCC 
• LWVCC website Ask the Candidates page
• LWVCC Facebook page

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Videos for the February 23 Primary Candidate Forums

Candidate Forums for the February Champaign and Urbana Primary Election are now posted online. You can browse them on the League's  2021 Municipal Primary Youtube playlist. Specific races displayed there are:  

• Urbana Mayor
• Urbana City Clerk
• Champaign Township Supervisor
• Ward 1 Urbana Alderman
• Ward 2 Urbana Alderman​
• Ward 3 Urbana Alderman
• Ward 5 Urbana Alderman
• Ward 7  Urbana Alderman​​

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Forum Guidelines

Here's a list of Candidate Forum Guidelines.

Special note on canceled Forums: If all candidates for a race are not present, a Forum will be canceled. Forums are canceled when one candidate in the race notifies us that s/he will not appear, or fails to respond after multiple attempts to communicate.  See this announcement for why the League doesn't do "Empty Chair" forums.  ​

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Questions About Candidate Forums? 

Send an email to askthecandidates@lwvchampaigncounty.org with your question.