Every election cycle, civic organizations, Republican, Socialist Communist Democrat clubs, business groups, neighborhood associations, and advocacy organizations host candidate forums and debates. These events can be valuable opportunities for voters to hear directly from those seeking public office.

But after years of participating in campaigns and candidate forums, I’ve noticed a common pattern.

Too often, the invitation process seems to work like this:

“Dear Candidate, we’re having a forum on (date). We hope you can make it. Your opponent is.”

That’s it.

No effort to coordinate schedules. No poll of candidates. No attempt to find a mutually agreeable date before announcing the event.

Instead, the date is selected first, invitations are sent afterward, and candidates are left to either rearrange previously scheduled commitments or be criticized for not attending.

Campaigns—especially local campaigns—don’t operate with empty calendars. Candidates often have work obligations, family responsibilities, community events, fundraisers, party meetings, door-knocking schedules, and previously scheduled forums. Many are volunteers balancing campaigns with full-time jobs.

It seems like common courtesy would be to reach out before finalizing a date.

A simple email asking, “We’re considering these three dates. Which works best for your campaign?” would go a long way toward ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to participate.

Instead, many organizations finalize everything before ever contacting the candidates.

Then comes the familiar follow-up:

“Your opponent accepted.”

That statement, whether intentional or not, creates pressure and can leave the impression that the candidate unable to attend simply doesn’t care. In reality, they may already have another commitment that was scheduled weeks or even months earlier.

Forums should be about informing voters—not putting candidates in impossible scheduling situations.

The best organizations I’ve worked with communicate early, coordinate with every campaign, and genuinely try to accommodate everyone involved. Those efforts deserve recognition because they result in better forums and better participation.

No candidate should receive less consideration simply because they cannot drop everything on short notice.

As campaigns become busier, perhaps it’s time for organizations to rethink the process. A little communication before selecting a date would benefit everyone—the organizations, the candidates, and, most importantly, the voters.

Respect works both ways. Candidates should make every reasonable effort to attend forums, and organizations should make every reasonable effort to schedule them fairly.

That’s not asking for special treatment.

That’s asking for a better process.