I have a confession to make: in the past decade, I have been to exactly one town hall with my member of Congress. It’s a little embarrassing, considering that I’m a former congressional staffer and I design public engagement processes for a living. But having staffed and observed more town halls than I can count, I think a lot of people are, like me, making a rational choice to skip them.
Any number of factors can make a town hall unproductive:
- Canned answers from lawmakers
- Performative grandstanding
- Irate people aiming to hijack or shut down the conversation
- A “question, answer, next” format that leaves no room for follow-up or discussion
- A crowd that doesn’t represent the demographics of the district
- Trolls
- Staff screening questions
Some of these factors cut multiple ways. Members of Congress might give bland answers because they’re defending something indefensible, or because they can’t be nuanced and thoughtful in a rowdy room, or because one loud contingent is prepared to drown out an explanation even if it’s palatable to a majority of constituents. Performative grandstanding might be annoying to everyone but the grandstander, or it could be a powerful display of a personal experience that educates the rest of the room. Staffers might be screening questions to filter out criticism, or to simply keep out trolls.
In an upcoming pilot project, Civic Genius is redesigning two Congressional town halls to make constituent engagement more authentic and productive. Based on the National Civic League’s Better Public Meetings work, these forums aim to foster thoughtful conversation and paint a well-rounded picture of what constituents really think.
First, we’re replacing “three minutes at the mic” and “submit your question on an index card” with deliberation. Residents will discuss a specific issue in small groups and give real-time feedback on different policy ideas – both with each other and with their representative in Congress. This small-group format offers more people the opportunity to share their experiences and reduces the potential for grandstanding. In this environment, constituents can work with their elected representative to weigh the trade-offs of complex policy choices – in other words, to experience the hard work of legislating.
Second, participants will be selected through a civic lottery to create a demographically representative discussion group. Any constituent can enter the lottery. One glaring reality of traditional town halls is that they tend to attract people whose schedules and resources allow them to attend. If you have young children, care for a parent, work evenings, or lack reliable transportation, town halls aren’t really designed with you in mind.
When I recently managed to jigsaw a congressional town hall into my own schedule, I had to drag my kids along and they complained the entire time.
Instead of a large crowd that often skews toward a particular demographic or ideology, these reimagined town halls will bring together about 50 people who reflect the full complexity of their district. Together, they’ll explore issues in a way that deepens their understanding—and that of their representative in the House.
Crucially, these town halls are not intended to replace other forms of constituent engagement. Traditional town halls offer constituents the opportunity to tell powerful personal stories, voice minority opinions, and hold elected officials accountable. What the reimagined town hall offers is a model for rich constituent engagement, rather than race-to-the-algorithmic-bottom discourse.
We are excited to learn from our first two pilots and expand reimagined town halls to districts across the country and across the political spectrum. Reach out to [email protected] if your congressional district needs a dose of deliberation.
