POLICY ON SCREENING QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES NIGHT
The job of a question screening committee is to put forward questions of general interest related to the position sought by the candidate(s). Only a small number of questions can be covered in the time available. To allow for audience participation, rapid judgments must be made and these judgments should not be subject to excessive evaluation after the event. No public account needs to be given of why particular questions were or were not selected.
Guidelines
1 Questions are asked of all the candidates and should not single out certain individuals.
2 Questions of policy should pertain to the specific powers of the office sought and the level of government it is in.
3 Questions should be direct, clear and avoid language that introduces a bias or unduly narrows the scope of the question.
4 Questions selected should include those asked numerous times – as an indication of general interest – provided they meet the other criteria and have not already been covered in the Voters Guide or other well-known sources.
5 Questions of competence and character should be general enough so that a range of experiences could reasonably be cited as evidence.
6 Questions of opinion should be relevant to important issues of public policy likely to come up for someone elected to the position sought. (This overlaps with 2)
7. The words of the questioner are preferred even when shortening or editing is needed.