The next Presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton takes place on Sunday, October 9th. This debate will be the “town hall” format where candidates will take questions directly from voters in the audience. In the spirit of this format, voters from around the country can participate as well by submitting their questions online.
ABC News and CNN have joined forces to allow for citizens to submit questions and then vote on questions which will be used during the upcoming presidential debate in St. Louis. It’s very easy to participate, all you have to do is visit PresidentialOpenQuestions.com and you can vote on existing questions or submit one of your own.
Report from The Atlantic:
Viewers unhappy with the questions asked at Monday night’s debate will have a shot to weigh in before Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton meet again on October 9: For the first time, the networks producing the town-hall style debate have agreed to accept questions voted on through the internet.
The Commission on Presidential Debates had already announced that the second of three debates would feature questions submitted online in addition to those asked by the traditional studio audience. But on Tuesday morning, the organizers confirmed they are embracing a format that a broad bipartisan cross-section of activist and civic groups known as the Open Debate Coalition have been pushing for years. Americans will be able to submit and then vote on questions online at PresidentialOpenQuestions.com, and ABC and CNN have agreed to consider the 30 most popular queries when they jointly plan the debate. [Emphasis added]
“This year’s presidential debate moderators will have a rich pool of voter-submitted questions they can draw on that carry greater weight because they are backed by votes from the American people,” Mike McCurry, a co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, said in a statement accompanying the announcement by the Open Debate Coalition.
The language is a little vague that the top 30 questions will be “considered,” not necessarily that there’s a guarantee they’ll get asked. I think it’s safe to assume that at least some of these questions will make it to the candidates.
As of writing, here are the top 5 questions with the most votes:
How will you ensure the 2nd amendment is protected? (link)
-Too much crime is blamed on the tool, not the person. How will you protect law abiding citizens to protect themselves.What will you do to ensure greater transparency and accountability in government? (link)
-Too many Americans feel that government is not accountable to the people and we are forced to live within a rigged system. How can you change this?Will You Support a Voter ID System that Insures that Only US Citizens Can Vote? (link)
-In this country, we need to show IDs to drive, make any financial transaction, get medical care, even attend your party conventions. Why is it controversial, or racist, to require IDs to vote?What do you propose to do to those in government that are above the law? (link)
-It’s become far too common for those in power to skirt the law. Unfortunately there are those that have consistently done wrong and continue to move along without repercussion. This must stop.Would you be willing to either repeal or repair/rework the Affordable Care Act? (link)
-I am a self-employed 61-year-old healthy individual and cannot afford the ACA policy the government has decided I should have.
If you like these questions, then go vote them up! If think you’ve got better questions, go submit them! There are literally thousands of questions already in the list so you might find your question has already been asked. Then it’s your job to share your question and get others to vote it up.
On a side note, the Vice Presidential debate is scheduled for next week on Tuesday, October 4th.
Related: 2016 Presidential Debate Schedule
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