Thursday - Oct. 3, 7 pm - BRSSD candidate forum - last reminder

This has already been an intense and drama-filled election season in our community - and we still have more than a month until election day. The voter information pamphlet and mail-in ballots will be arriving soon.

Please consider going to the Belmont Library this Thursday, Oct. 3rd - 7 pm - to ask questions and hear from the seven BRSSD School Board candidates in a public forum.

The event is hosted by the Belmont Library, with light refreshments provided by the Friends of the Belmont Library, and moderated by the League of Women Voters of North and Central San Mateo County. The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government. The League maintains a strict unbiased policy when participating in candidate or issue forums. Forums moderated by the LWV are conducted using League procedures and provide an opportunity for the voters to hear and question the candidates.

LWV members will include the moderator, a timekeeper, and one or two people to greet people, pass out cards for people to write their questions on, pick up the questions and sort through them to combine similar questions etc. Their procedures don't allow for questions to be given to the candidates prior to the forum, that is left to the audience. This is not a debate, but an opportunity for the audience to see the candidates and ask them questions about their candidacy.

The procedures for this candidate forum are:

FORMAT: There will be an oral presentation by each candidate, followed by questions from the audience and a closing statement by each candidate.

WHO MAY SPEAK: Only the candidates may speak on his/her own behalf. If the candidate is unable to appear, the candidates may not send a substitute speaker or a prepared statement. The purpose of the meeting is to bring together candidate and voter, face to face. Other media exist for publicizing the candidate and platform.

LITERATURE: No literature may be distributed inside the meeting room. The League assumes no responsibility for activities outside the door of the room. (This prohibition may be extended to a corridor outside the room if the orderliness of the meeting indicates it.)

DEMONSTRATIONS: No demonstrations, flags, placards, campaign buttons, or other distracting material will be permitted inside the room. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss issues and to evaluate candidates in a rational atmosphere.

DECORUM: The candidates must refrain from using personal invective. The manner of presentation, if offensive, may be ruled out of order by the moderator. The audience will be expected to refrain from loud comments and hold their applause until the end of the evening.

TIME: Time limits will be strictly adhered to and a speaker will be gaveled down in mid-sentence, if necessary.

CANDIDATES' OPENING AND CLOSING STATEMENTS: Each candidate will have three (3) minutes for an opening statement. Each candidate will be allowed two (2) minutes for a closing statement.

QUESTIONS: Questions will be accepted in writing from members of the audience. Questions will be sorted by topic before being submitted to the moderator. The moderator will try to cover a variety of topics and may edit or combine questions to expedite this portion of the forum. The moderator
will exclude questions of a personal or offensive nature.

Each candidate will be allowed one (1) minute to respond to each question. If a question is addressed to a particular candidate, that candidate will answer first. All other candidates will have an opportunity to speak to the question.

TELECASTING: The League of Women Voters of North and Central San Mateo County is not responsible for the filming or televising of candidate forums or for the distribution of the video of a candidate forum. If the forum is video-taped, the tape must be used only in its entirety by the candidates.