“UNPAC’s Helpful Election Primers”


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ORGANIZING AN ELECTION FORUM:

An election is coming! All-candidates forums are a great way to hear what candidates have to say about specific issues. They also engage communities on election issues and get people talking about what’s important for them.

  1. Pick a place, day and time
    Election forums can be held in women’s resource centres, family community centres, schools, seniors’ centres, housing complexes or community organizations. Make sure the location is wheelchair accessible, has parking, and is on good bus routes. Different times of the day work best for different people. Afternoon might be best for women with children (be sure to offer childcare). Evenings might work best for people who are at paid jobs during the day. A snack helps get people out. The room can be set up like an auditorium with a table and microphones at the front. If you’d prefer a more informal feel and the group is small, you could try sitting in a circle. If the group is large, put one or two microphones in the audience for people to ask questions from the floor.
  2. Invite the candidates
    As soon as you know the when and where of your forum, invite the candidates. The more advance notice you can give them the better (a minimum of 3 weeks is best). Contact information for the candidates can usually be found on the internet. You may want to let candidates know which issues you think might come up at the forum so they can come prepared. Not all candidates will show up. If they don’t, it can be a sign that they are not very concerned about the issues in your particular community.
  3. Choose a moderator
    Choose someone who is well-respected in your community to moderate the discussion. A good format is to allow each candidate to speak for 5-10 minutes about his/her election platform (the issues they think are important and what they plan to do about them) and then open the floor for questions. Sometimes it’s good to start with a few pre-decided questions. If there are lots of questions from the audience, it’s faster to ask a few questions all at once and then give each candidate time to respond to them.
  4. Publicize your event
    Print posters, send e-mails, write a public service announcement (PSA) and make personal phone calls to invite the community out. Let people know that everyone is welcome; you don’t need to be an expert on politics to come out and say what’s important to you. Send out a media advisory (explaining who/what/where/when) and make phone calls to the media inviting them to attend, too.
  5. Select questions to ask
    Help make people who have never attended forums comfortable by preparing questions in advance. Writing them out helps. You can also pass out paper and pens at the forum so that people can write their questions down. Volunteers can collect these questions and the moderator can read them out. This way those who are not comfortable speaking in front of a crowd still have a voice.


An Election Primer by UNPAC Manitoba, April 2007. For more information, contact (204) 772-7876 or project@unpac.ca or visit www.unpac.ca

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