Good Evening or Hello and welcome to the candidate forum for _______________ sponsored by the League of Women Voters. 
My name is _______________ and I am a member of the League of Women Voters of __________. I will serve as your Moderator for this forum.

First, a brief word about the League. The purpose of the League of Women Voters is to promote political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government.

The League is non-partisan. The League does not support or oppose any political party or candidate. It is political in that it reaches positions on selected governmental issues after member study and agreement and takes action for positive change on those positions.

Throughout its history, the League of Women Voters has been providing opportunities for candidates seeking public office to take their case directly to the voters. The League Candidates Nights are an expected part of political campaigns for every level of public office. Leagues are seen as fair, unbiased and competent providers of services to voters. League candidate nights are controlled by the League, not by the candidates. 

Here are the ground rules that were given to the candidates before this forum: Each candidate will give a 2 minute opening statement. During the time of opening statements, our League Runners will pick up your questions. 

Questions will be given to Question Sorters (name them and point to their table) who will sort them to ensure that a wide variety of issues will be covered. Due to time constraints, we may not be able to ask every question submitted. Questions become the property of the League and cannot be returned or discussed after tonight. 

Each candidate will have a minute and a half to respond to each question. Our Timekeeper, ____________,who is seated here in front, will raise a 30 (or 15 if you wish) seconds card to warn the speaker when 30 (or 15) seconds remain, and a 'STOP' card when time is up. The speaker must immediately conclude his/her remarks. Time limits are closely followed to ensure fairness to all candidates. We will conclude with a one and a half minute closing statement by each candidate.

For the candidates:
If you would like me to repeat the question, please just ask. Also do not feel that you have to use up the entire minute and a half for a reply.

We expect the audience to give each speaker an opportunity to be heard. This is not a town meeting, so comments from the audience will not be accepted. Also, in deference to our limited time, please hold your applause until the end of the evening. 

So now you know the format, please meet the ________candidates running for the _________ positions. (Introduce all of them). The term of office is _________years. 

Prior to the start of this forum the order of speaking was determined by drawing of lots. Our speaking order is for opening statements is as follows: 

Our first candidate is _____________________, followed by ________________, then ___________________.

After each speaker, thank the candidate before calling the next speaker . 

We begin the questions now and will vary the order starting with ____________ . The next reply will be given by ________________. 

Try to let the next speaker know just ahead of his/her turn so they are ready when you call them.  Ensure that a new question starts and ends with a different candidate from the previous question. See sample grid later in this packet 

CONCLUDING REMARKS: 
We thank our candidates for their participation tonight and for their willingness to run for this important office.(Applause) Good luck! We thank our hosts (or co-sponsors)__________________________ and our League team members. We thank you the audience for coming & remind you to vote on ________________ and take a friend to vote!