Most government access channels feel that one of their roles is to encourage voter participation in local elections. The other role is to create educated voters. With these roles in mind, government access channels may engage in a variety of election-related programming. These types of programs are usually not produced by other media entities so it is another unique niche for government access channels.
Most cities create their election related policies in close consultation with their city attorney's office. What is appropriate for some communities may be difficult to execute in other communities.
The most common type of election programming provided by government access channels is candidate forums. The coordination and guidelines for candidate's forums are often provided by an established neutral party such as the League of Women Voters. In some communities, the government access channel will also cover candidate forums sponsored by the local Republican Club and the local Democrat Club.
A word of caution, depending on the number of candidates and the types of issues being discussed, candidate forums can become long and drawn out if the host has all candidates answer every question. You can lose your audience during long programs, even if you are providing important information.
By working closely with the local League of Women Voters, the format of candidate forums in Santa Monica, CA was changed to quicken the pace to make it more lively. Now, each question is answered by only three candidates so there are differing answers; the viewer doesn't have to listen to every candidate answer every question. The League in Santa Monica also asks each candidate to submit questions, giving the candidates the opportunity to address party issues. These are given to other candidates to answer.
The Santa Monica League also invites local journalists to ask questions, which promotes network coverage of both the forum and the channel. Network coverage can also make a show more lively because commercial reporters are trained to ask "tough" questions.
Most government channels provide election results. This type of programming can vary from between character-generated graphics to full-blown programs. The programs can include interviews, reports from the field, news packages and election results. The government channel is often the only place to get up-to-the-minute election results.
Other types of programming recently created by cities include half-hour talk show interviews with candidates, airing of candidate statements, a series of short interviews to "Meet the Candidates" ballot measure discussion programs. In Arvada, CO sells political advertisements to candidates.