Help us heat up the hot seats
DEVIN WEEKS | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 4 years, 4 months AGO
Schroeder
Devin Weeks is a third-generation North Idaho resident. She holds an associate degree in journalism from North Idaho College and a bachelor's in communication arts from Lewis-Clark State College Coeur d'Alene. Devin embarked on her journalism career at the Coeur d'Alene Press in 2013. She worked weekends for several years, covering a wide variety of events and issues throughout Kootenai County. Devin now mainly covers K-12 education and the city of Post Falls. She enjoys delivering daily chuckles through the Ghastly Groaner and loves highlighting local people in the Fast Five segment that runs in CoeurVoice. Devin lives in Post Falls with her husband and their three eccentric and very needy cats. | September 23, 2020 1:07 AM
Community, let your voices be heard.
Readers are invited to submit questions that will be answered in real time by candidates who participate in the Coeur d'Alene Press 2020 Election Town Hall Forums, which will be held on Zoom Oct. 5 through 8.
To submit questions for each race, visit: http://bit.ly/20ELECT
These questions will help warm up the hot seats of contested races: Idaho State House, Idaho State Senate, North Idaho College trustees, Kootenai County Sheriff, U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
"The invitation has gone out to all the candidates," Press publisher Clint Schroeder said Tuesday. "We’re hoping that they all participate."
The most popular three questions submitted by readers will be asked each candidate per forum. The candidates will not be furnished the questions in advance, Schroeder said.
"They’re going to need to be on their toes and do some thinking," he said.
With a record voter turnout expected, Schroeder said it's important people know for whom they're voting.
"People need to stop voting for the little letter beside the name, and start voting for the person who stands in front of that letter," he said. "This is a big deal. This election is a big deal."
Also, with a changing demographic of voters and new 18-year-olds able to vote for the first time, candidates need to "understand they don't represent their party, they represent the constituency who puts them in that seat," Schroeder said.
"I know that isn’t a popular way to look at things, but culturally, we’re changing. The face of the voter demographic is changing. It’s not pure party politics anymore," he said. "I'm not advocating for everybody to just start voting in a different way — I’m advocating for people to know who it is and what they stand for before they put them in an important elected position."
The town hall forums will be posted to www.cdapress.com within a few hours after the Zoom forums end. Each forum will be from 5 to 7 p.m.
The schedule is as follows:
Oct. 5: Idaho State House (Districts 2 through 4, Seats A and B)
Oct. 6: Idaho State Senate (District 4); North Idaho College trustees, Zones 4 and 5
Oct. 7: Kootenai County Sheriff
Oct. 8: U.S. House (Idaho District 1) and U.S. Senate
The deadline to submit questions is Sept. 30 at 5 p.m.
A limited "live" Zoom audience, microphones muted, will watch the forum unfold. Schroeder said details are coming soon.
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