town halls

In this week's Virtual Staff Happy Hour, our academic partners will join us to discuss innovative techniques for conducting online and telephone town halls and how these improved methods could make a difference during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Congressional Management Foundation and Ohio State University's Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA) are seeking congressional offices to participate in a project which could help slow the spread of the coronavirus by disseminating reliable public health information in a bipartisan way.

(The following blog was posted on NPEngage.com hosted by CQ/Roll Call - May 25, 2017)

Town hall meetings held by Members of Congress in 2017 have been one part theater, two parts protest, and usually three parts crazy. Normally about 20 to 40 constituents attend the average town hall meeting held by a House member. But with the new administration, citizens have been showing up to them in the hundreds or even the thousands. The media has focused on those meetings which are most raucous. (Why cover an event where an elected official and constituents have a calm conversation on public policy?) And, indeed, many citizens come to these events not to have a conversation, but to vent. At a recent town hall meeting, a man came with a sign, "I didn't come here to listen to you. I came here to yell!"

Now that summer is here, legislators are increasing their scheduling of town hall meetings back in their districts. Recently some myths have emerged about this time honored aspect of our democracy. Some groups are claiming (usually tied to a fundraising pitch), "Congress isn't listening to citizens" and is holding fewer town hall meetings. This is false.