Contact
Will Ferguson, CEO at EnCiv
Email: willferguson@enciv.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCTOBER 21, 2020
Greta Van Susteren to Moderate 2020 General Election Virtual Debates on Ballotpedia.org
Van Susteren, Ballotpedia, and civic tech innovation firm EnCiv join forces to connect candidates and voters during the historic 2020 election.
OCTOBER 21, 2020 — Gray Television and Ballotpedia announced today that Greta Van Susteren, host of Gray TV’s Full Court Press, will moderate Candidate Conversations hosted on Ballotpedia.org for the 2020 General Election cycle.
Launched in 2019, Candidate Conversations is a virtual debate format that allows voters to get to know candidates directly through video Q&A, delivered in a neutral, cross-partisan context. Candidate Conversations feature a standardized set of questions and responses recorded asynchronously, then made available to voters on demand in a navigable, interactive simulated debate. See an example from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Place 9 election.
Although Candidate Conversations predate the COVID-19 pandemic, this online voter education resource has taken on even greater importance amid today’s unprecedented challenges. Says Gwen Beattie, COO of Ballotpedia, “Candidate Conversations was designed to make it easier for voters to get to know their candidates personally. This resource has become essential in an environment where candidates have limited opportunities to appear before voters.”
Longtime political analyst Van Susteren agrees.“Facts, fairness and information is what voters need. Candidates need to be able to get their message out.”
Candidate Conversations are powered by technology from EnCiv, a civic tech innovation firm dedicated to constructive, scaled cross-partisan discourse. “It’s about reducing divisiveness and making meaningful civic engagement more accessible,” says EnCiv CEO Will Ferguson. “We want to help voters get simple, unfiltered information directly from the candidates themselves, because we believe that’s a critical first step in helping voters make good decisions.”
The Candidate Conversations platform moderated by Greta Van Susteren is available to all ballot-qualified candidates in Ballotpedia’s 2020 election coverage area. Full Court Press airs every Sunday, with local listings available at fullcourtgreta.com.
About Greta Van Susteren
Greta Van Susteren is Chief National Political Analyst for Gray Media and host of Full Court Press. She is an award-winning journalist and worked as a news anchor at CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC. Prior to her journalism career, Van Susteren was a practicing lawyer and a tireless advocate for the First Amendment, arguing cases in federal appellate courts and state supreme courts. Van Susteren maintains an active social media presence, with a following of 1.2 million on Twitter and more than 1.1 million on Facebook. Learn more at <fullcourtgreta.com.>
About Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia is the online encyclopedia of American politics and elections. Its goal is to preserve and expand knowledge about politics by providing objective information about local, state, and federal politics and policies. Its content includes trustworthy information, covering government officials and the offices they hold, political issues and public policy, elections, and candidates. Headquartered in Middleton, Wisconsin, Ballotpedia was founded in 2006. It includes over 300,000 professionally authored encyclopedic articles that have garnered over 1 billion page views. Learn more at <Ballotpedia.org.>
About Gray Television
Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE: GTN) is a television broadcast company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that is the largest owner of top-rated local television stations and digital assets in the United States. Gray currently owns and/or operates television stations and leading digital properties in 94 television markets that collectively reach approximately 24 percent of U.S. television households. Over calendar year 2019, Gray’s stations were ranked first in 69 markets, and first and/or second in 87 markets, as calculated by Comscore, Inc.’s audience measurement service. We also own video program production, marketing, and digital businesses including Raycom Sports, Tupelo-Raycom, and RTM Studios, the producer of PowerNation programs and content. Website: www.gray.tv.
About EnCiv
Founded in 2018, EnCiv builds innovative technology in the service of thoughtful civic discourse and better decision making. A nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization, EnCiv imagines a world where people of every political conviction are inspired to work together and get things done. Learn more at <EnCiv.org.>
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