EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK: What is a reverse town hall and why are we hosting one?

Since moving back to Greensboro in 2018, I’ve been to countless candidate forums in election years. I’ve been to ones for school board, county commission, the sheriff’s offices and more. And mostly, they’re all the same.

Candidates get invited, they’re asked questions about certain issues, they get to talk for a few minutes, voters ask questions and then everyone leaves. It’s not necessarily a bad model. We did our own earlier this year for city council candidates in Winston-Salem. These types of event give candidates a platform and voters more information to make their decision.

But at Triad City Beat, we’ve been thinking of ways to innovate and do something different. Enter the reverse town hall.

We’re copping the model from a successful election event hosted last year by The Current, an independent news organization based in Louisiana. The model is simple: Instead of having candidates on a stage, we’re going to put voters at the center of the event.

For our first event, which will be hosted in Winston-Salem, we’ll invite a group of local voters to sit and talk about the issues that are most important to them whether it’s housing, education, the economy or reproductive rights. And the audience? Well, it’ll be made up of the candidates running in the area. As a nonpartisan paper, we’ll invite all of the candidates that are running this fall in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. They’ll get to sit and listen to the voters and hopefully take their issues to heart as they continue to campaign. Time allowing, they’ll get to ask questions, too.

It’s part of what news outlets across the country are calling voter-centric coverage.

We know that for too long, newspapers have only focused on what the candidates are saying and doing. That’s important, of course. But what’s largely been left out of the conversation is what voters want. And isn’t that kind of the point? Because politicians are meant to represent us; that’s what democracy is. And so we’re doing what we can to ensure that kind of conversation takes place. This issue, which is made up of mostly stories focused on voters and democracy, is an example of a shift in coverage.

So if you’re interested in this new model, join us at the Ramkat in Winston-Salem on Oct. 8 at 6 p.m. for our first ever reverse town hall. There will be drinks, conversation and a voter registration drive. We’re currently planning one for Guilford, too. You can RSVP here.

It’s time to make your voices heard. Hope to see you there.