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Working with the League of Women Voters as a Candidate for Office

About the League

We encourage informed and active participation in government   We work to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influence public policy through education and advocacy. 

Non-Partisan

We do not support or oppose any political party or any candidate.  We do take positions on issues that impact our community and country.  Sometimes our positions may align with a party or candidate and sometimes they may not. 

Running for Office and the League

As a candidate for office, we believe it is important for voters to understand who you are and the policies that you plan to pursue if elected to office.    This means that we want to ask you questions that represent what voters are asking. Questions that will help them make up their minds of "who should I vote for".     We will always ask as fairly and impartially as we can.   We will always attempt to give every candidate in a race an equal opportunity to engage with voters.










Candidate Interest

Voting Guide

VOTE411 is a widely used and trusted website developed by the League to provide voting information across the country.  It truly is a one-stop solution to find information about registering the to vote, absentee voting, upcoming elections, and information about candidates on the ballot and more.   About 1/3 of the voters in Tippecanoe County use VoteOTE411 to learn about the candidates and make candidate choices before heading to the polls to cast their ballot. 


How it Works for the Voter

Voters enter their address and VOTE411 displays a list of the candidates on their ballot for each race.
Voters select the candidates to compare and contrast the responses to questions asked related to the office each candidate how the candidate answered questions they is seeking.  Voters can select the candidates that they wish to vote for and print out their own personal voting guide to take to the polls.


How it Works for Candidates

Each election cycle we will work with a variety of community stakeholders to prepare questions for each office.   We will reach out to you via email and ask you to participate in VOTE411.  
If you express interest, we will send you a link to the questions and provide a deadline for your response.  You are provided a secure link to your page on VOTE411.

Once you respond, providing biographical information and responses to the questions, you submit your answers, and they are posted to the VOTE411 database.  Your responses are not edited or filtered in any way.  We will translate your responses into Spanish and post them alongside the English. You can translate your own responses if you prefer.

 

West Lafayette City Council Debate

Candidate Debates

We organize candidate debates for national, state and local offices.     These are highly structured events (often broadcast) that are designed to give the voters an honest and unbiased look at the candidates.    It is your opportunity to address voters and draw a contrast with your opponent(s). 


How Do we Decide on Debates?

This is often a question of voter interest and sometimes candidate request.   We also work with media partners and community stakeholders to assess which races are of the most interest.  If you are interested in having a debate, please let us know.


No Empty Chairs

 It's League policy that we cannot hold empty chair debates (a debate where one candidate shows up and another does not).   Such an event is not a debate but a platform for a candidate and this starts to look like a League endorsement of the candidate that appears.   However, we will hold debates for multi-candidate offices (e.g., city council at-large) even when some candidates do not participate - as long as at least two candidates appear.