Press Release

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) announces that it has reengineered how it will facilitate candidate debates for the 2020 Primary Election. Starting this month, legislative office candidate debates—established for voters solely by the Citizens Clean Elections Commission 20 years ago—will be entirely in an online, real-time and interactive format. Already an avid user of technology to reach voters in the state, the CCEC was able to quickly replace the traditional in-person format with one that accommodates virtual participation by voters and candidates across Arizona for the fast-approaching Primary Election debates.

“We are the only entity in the state that facilitates statewide debates and virtual technology provides the ability to protect the health and safety of candidates and voters without compromising the value of debates in the election process,” said Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Voter Education Director, Gina Roberts. “Our virtual debates place the voter at the center of the conversation because they can help us set the discussion topics by sending in questions. Our intention is that the dialogue be even more interactive than an in-person debate.”

The Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission Virtual Debate Series will be streamed on the CCEC YouTube Channel. Once there, voters will see an email address on the page that is manned in real-time by the CCEC . All submitted questions will be monitored and provided to the moderator. On that same page voters will also see a phone number that they can call or text. That phone number will also be manned in real-time and questions will be presented to the moderator. Candidates will log-on from their homes and share the screen on the CCEC YouTube Channel as they discuss the issues most pressing in their communities.

“I believe that current events have piqued interest in the role of government among the public as a whole,” said Citizens Clean Elections Commission, Chairman, Galen Paton. “At a time when information and transparency is especially sought out, our longtime role in facilitating dialogue between voters and candidates as well as providing non-partisan voter information and tools is all the more critical.”

The most up-to-date debates schedule can be found at www.azcleanelections.gov/debates. Select debates will be moderated by Arizona Capitol Times journalists including Associate Publisher and Editor Luige Del Puerto. Voters can tune-in live and then replay the debate by visiting the CCEC website where all of the debates will be archived.

The Citizens Clean Elections Commission was established by Arizona voters to restore citizen participation and confidence in Arizona’s political system, to improve the integrity of State government and to promote freedom of speech under the U.S. and Arizona Constitutions.