mobanmarketABC and CNN have agreed to consider “bottom-up questions”—those submitted online by the public—for inclusion in the October 9 presidential town hall debate, the bipartisan Open Debate Coalition announced Tuesday.
“For the first time, the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has mandated that moderators of the town hall debate ask questions with input from the internet—not just questions from voters in the physical room,” according to a press statement from the coalition, which facilitated so-called “open debates” in the 2013 special election for Congress in Massachusetts and in the 2016 U.S. Senate debate in Florida.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled with how it worked out,” Lilia Tamm, program director for the Open Debate Coalition, said following the Florida debate.
“Bottom-up participation isn’t just about choosing topics. It’s about allowing the public to truly frame the questions in a way that addresses what voters are actually asking at their kitchen tables,” said Progressive Change Campaign Committee co-founder Adam Green, who participated in negotiations with the networks. “We are very hopeful that ABC and CNN will maximize this opportunity. They seem genuinely excited to be leaders in debate innovation, and we hope to make open debates the new norm for debates in American politics.”
Added Heather McGhee, president of Demos Action: “We’ve seen bottom-up online energy thrust new ideas like debt-free college into the national spotlight and 2016 presidential campaign. This same ethos would be a breath of fresh air for our political debates and a major step forward for democratic participation.”
Already, the public is weighing in.
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