Traditional town halls are among the most common ways Members of Congress communicate with constituents. However, conventional town halls have become less effective and more risky in recent years— as polarization has increased, they have tended to attract only the most partisan constituents, and/or “the usual suspects,” who take every opportunity to engage with their Member. They generally don’t attract the large swath of citizens who aren’t engaged, and thus offer limited gains for Members really trying to understand their constituency’s concerns and priorities. Additionally, town halls have become seen as potential weapons, opportunities to force a stumble by the Member and drive negative media coverage.

Even at their best, the format of traditional town halls often leads to two other problems: over-broadness that prevents the conversation from moving beyond talking points, and the perception that the conversation is being stage-managed by staff to avoid tough questions for the Member.  Both of these problems lead to a ‘defensive’ posture among participants, meaning that even when the events go well, they often don’t yield any new information for Members or any change in opinion among constituents.

Deliberative Town Halls are designed to overcome these limitations and create town halls that facilitate constructive, two-way communication. The key elements of a deliberative town hall are:

1. Representativeness: Specially recruiting a representative cross-section of constituents to participate, and holding the event online to make it as accessible as possible.
2. Focus: Limiting the town hall to a single issue facilitates a more substantive conversation that gets beyond talking points.
3. Information: Providing non-partisan background information on the issue in advance allows constituents to form more informed opinions.
4. Independence: Having a neutral third-party moderate the town hall signals to constituents that this is not an infomercial, fostering more authentic participation and creating opportunities for trust-building and persuasion.
5. Candid, real-time participation by Member: Seeing a Member of Congress make themselves available for questioning in a transparent environment engages constituents in ways that no other communication can.

These are the simple, but crucial elements of a “deliberative town hall.” However, though simple, they can be very difficult for a congressional office to implement on its own, which is why Connecting to Congress exists—to provide the capacity for this kind of town hall and the additional research and analysis documenting its impact.

See Dr. Michael Neblo discuss the impact of deliberative town halls in his testimony before the Select Committee for the Modernization of Congress