League of Women Voters schedules candidate forum

The League of Women Voters of the San Juans has been providing non-partisan voter forums for over 20 years. We cordially invite you to participate in our October general election forums. This year, the forums on Orcas, Lopez, and San Juan Islands will include the Legislative District 40 State Senate special election. In addition, the forum on Orcas will include contested races for Port Commissioner, Sewer and Water District, and School Board Director 5 seats.

Because venue availability was limited, we have scheduled the forums as shown in the Table below. For candidates coming without a car, we will offer transportation from the ferry terminals on Orcas and Lopez to the forum venue; the Grange in Friday Harbor is within easy walking distance from the ferry.

LWVSJI Forums, October 2019: times and connecting ferries (from fall schedule)

The format of the forums will be as follows:

• The forums will be moderated by a League member and will offer time for each candidate to make opening remarks, followed by questions from the audience.
• The ordering of the Orcas forums will be Port Commissioner, Sewer and Water District, Board of Education, and finally State Senate.
• Each candidate will have 2 minutes for opening remarks.
• We will have approximately 20-60 minutes for Q&A for each race.  We anticipate having 2 or 3 written questions, submitted by the audience as they arrive, followed by as many live questions from the audience as time allows.
• Each candidate will have 2 minutes to respond to general questions asked of all candidates.  If a question is directed to one particular candidate, she/he will have 2 minutes to reply, and then all other candidates may take 1 minute to provide additional comments.
• Each candidate will have 2 minutes for closing remarks.
• We will be strict about time. A timer will hold up cards indicating when 1 minute is left, 30 seconds are left, and when it is time to stop. 
• The moderator will keep us moving through the questions, ensure compliance with time limits, and maintain order throughout.  The league expects all candidates to be civil and focus on answering all questions as thoroughly as possible.
• If a candidate cannot attend the forum, her or his representative (or the LWVSJI moderator) may read an opening statement the candidate provides. However, the representative will not be allowed to answer questions from the audience during the forum.
• If only one candidate for a race attends, then our “empty chair” rule allows that candidate to make an opening statement, and to talk to members of the audience after the end of the forum, but not to answer questions from the audience during the forum. We sincerely hope this will not occur, and strongly encourage both candidates for each race to attend.
• Candidates may provide campaign literature for the audience on a table at the back.
• We have not arranged for the forums to be recorded, and will ask the audience not to make any recordings, to prevent the distribution of misleadingly edited clips.

Please let us know as soon as possible whether you plan to participate, if you have questions or concerns, and if you would like us to provide transportation from and to the ferry on Orcas and Lopez. We would greatly appreciate your participation and look forward to an educational series of forums.