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Candidate Forums

Submit your questions for the Newton 2021 Municipal Election

Newton voters: send us your questions for the candidates!

This year, the League will once again create an online Voters Guide and host Candidate Forums for the upcoming municipal election for Mayor, City Councilors, and School Committee members. We will create a guide and host forums for both the preliminary election in September, and then for the regular election in November.

The LWVN Voters Guide and Candidate Forums are neutral forums where we invite all candidates to provide answers to the public, as part of our mission to encourage informed and active participation in government. The League of Women Voters is nonpartisan: this means we neither support nor oppose candidates or political parties at any level of government. We do advocate for issues we have studied and taken positions on, but we do not support or oppose candidates.

Help us formulate questions to cover a wide variety of topics in our Voters Guide and to use in our Candidate Forums! We are currently requesting questions for the preliminary election in particular, and will be issuing a new request for questions for the regular election.  Please submit your question(s) for any of the groups of candidates — for Mayor, City Councilor, or School Committee — by July 25. You may submit this form as many times as needed to ask multiple questions of different candidate groups.

We suggest that your question be direct and about 1-2 sentences long. This generally results in more direct and focused answers. We can’t guarantee questions will be used verbatim as we may combine similar questions, but we will try to address as many topics and questions as possible.
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Questions for Upcoming Candidate Forum: Please Submit by February 15, 2021

Candidate ForumOn Monday, February 15, LWVN together with NewTV will be taping Candidate Forums for the candidates in the March 16, 2021 Special Election.  We need questions to ask the candidates.

Send us questions YOU would like to ask the candidates for the vacant Ward 1 and Ward 2 At-Large City Council seats.  We can’t guarantee they will be used verbatim, but we will try to address as many topics and questions as possible.  We especially appreciate questions that are direct and about 1-2 sentences long–these tend to mean more direct and focused answers. Please submit your questions before 4:00 pm on Monday, February 15 to LWVN and use the subject line “Questions for Candidates in 2021 Special Election”.

Our forums will be taped by NewTV, to be shown on NewTV at a later date and available online.  Check our website for viewing information!

Voter Service Update for the Fall 2019 Municipal Election

LWVN held 10 Candidates’ Forums this election season, including two for Ward 5 Ward Councilor, both before and after the preliminary election.  All were produced with NewTV, our long-time partner, recorded at NewTV, and made available through the NewTV and LWVN websites.  These were for contested seats on the City Council only.  Although there were also three contested School Committee races, one candidate in each race declined to participate.  Because LWV does not hold ‘empty chair’ debates, we had to cancel the School Committee Candidate Forums.

The LWVN Online Voters Guide did include all candidates for City Council and School Committee, including those in uncontested races and those whose opponents chose not to participate.  This was made available to the public approximately three weeks before the election.  City Council candidates were asked four questions, and the School Committee members were asked five.

LWVN also created ‘Saturday Night at the Races,’ a ‘candidating’ type event for City Council candidates, which was co-sponsored with 7 other Newton organizations.  The event was held at the War Memorial at City Hall, and involved groups of citizens conversing with the City Council candidates by ward.  Every 15 minutes, voters were asked to move to a new table to meet a new set of candidates.  This was quite well-received, both by the candidates and by the voters, who enjoyed an opportunity for face-to-face discussions on issues raised directly by the voters.  Many especially appreciated being able to meet with candidates who did not have challengers, but who nevertheless made the effort to meet voters and discuss important topics.  We expect to continue this event in the next election, but will work to address some issues raised (mainly the noise level and timing).

In an effort to learn more about a new incoming City Councilor, LWVN did also host Ward 8 Ward Council candidate Holly Ryan on our monthly NewTV program, ‘The League Presents’.  Because Holly did not have a challenger, either on the ballot or as a write-in, we felt it was acceptable to meet with her individually and talk about some of the same issues discussed in our Candidates’ Forums. 

LWVN thanks our Voter Service team of co-chairs Bonnie Carter, Sharyn Roberts and Sue Flicop, as well as Lucia Dolan, Lois Levin, Karen Manning, Lisa Mirabile, dozens of LWVN volunteers for the Candidates’ Forums and Saturday Night at the Races, the wonderful NewTV staff, and our co-sponsors for Saturday Night at the Races:  Green Newton,  Mothers Out Front, 350 Mass for a Better Future, Newton Needham Regional Chamber, Newton Conservators, Newton Council on Aging!

Submitted by Sue Flicop