League organizes 10 community groups to produce candidate forum series
A coalition of community organizations led by the League hosted a series of virtual candidate and ballot issue forums ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Candidates in selected primary and general election races in the Springfield region were invited. Lisa Langley, who organized the group as a representative of the League, said many of the 10 organizations share the goal of voter education and voter turnout so it made sense to work together.
“Voters often don’t vote because they feel they don’t know or understand what’s on the ballot,” Langley explained. “Participating in these forums gave voters information they needed to make educated choices.”
League past president Kelly Wood was moderator for the League-sponsored forum for State Representative, District 134, and also moderated an advocacy forum on Amendment 3 for League members across the state. Featured were former Sen. Jack Danforth and No on 3 campaign director Nicholson.
KSMU Radio promoted the coalition programs and rebroadcast a pro-con Amendment 3 forum with legislative sponsor Sen. Dan Hegeman (R-Cosby), and No on 3 campaign director Sean Soendker-Nicholson.
The forum coalition decided not to hold forums for Seventh Congressional and State Representative Districts 133 and 136 because the Republican candidates did not respond to repeated invitations. National League policy states a forum with only one candidate attending cannot be held.
Next up? Coalition members are now making plans to continue engagement with elected lawmakers. One of the ideas is to hold one-to-one conversations with lawmakers that would be available in real time virtually and recorded for later viewing.
The 10 coalition organizations are: • Be Civil, Be Heard community program • Drury University’s L.E. Meador Center for Politics & Citizenship • Junior League of Springfield • KSMU Radio • Leadership Springfield • League of Women Voters of Southwest Missouri • Missouri State University’s Office of Public Affairs • NAACP Springfield • Ozarks Technical Community College’s Social Sciences Department and nonpartisan student organization Politically Active • Springfield-Greene County Library District