LYNN — Lynn Community Television has been doing its part in city elections for years, hosting forums and offering information and candidate bios on its website for viewers to access.
Every year, Lynn Community Television (LCTV) covers election-related events on its website and on the local cable channels, featuring forums from candidates for School Committee, City Council seats and mayor.
Once candidates have pulled papers and officially filed to run for a political seat, LCTV offers them a chance to do a profile video where they get to sit down and talk about themselves, their values and their plans for the city.
Each candidate gets the same amount of time to do this, and then the videos are posted online for the public to view.
The candidates also get to submit a photo and short bio to be posted online.
Seth Albaum, executive director of LCTV, said everyone’s bio and information then stays online for the same amount of time.
The website also has election guide public-service announcements produced in three languages — English, Spanish and Khmer — and an interactive map of polling locations.
On election nights, LCTV live streams election results and posts updates on its website.
For Tuesday’s upcoming election, State Rep. Daniel Cahill (D-Lynn), Economic Development & Industrial Corporation of Lynn (EDIC/Lynn) Board member Magnolia Contreras, and former City Councilor Joe Scanlon will be hosting the Live Election Results Show on LCTV.
They will offer their insights on the candidates and their campaigns, while providing updates on the numbers from polling locations, which will be texted in by groups of LCTV volunteers.
“One of the great things about community media is that we’re member- and volunteer-based,” Albaum said.
Once results are in, the website updates the numbers and keeps all of the election information on the website even after the election is over, in case people want to know what happened and take a look back.
Having the access to this information, Albaum said, helps promote civic engagement, especially when people participate in it.
“We talk about low voter turnout in Lynn, but if you can involve people from local organizations in the process, it helps bring them into the fold and want to participate in their community more,” Albaum said. “I want to stress the importance of local media. Other communities are not so lucky.”
To learn more about LCTV or the candidates on the ballot for Tuesday’s election, visit lynntv.org.
