The Presidential Debate departed very widely from the rules of debate in Robert's Rules of Order. A A debate should be an unbiased discussion of issues. The Presidential debate was compromised by a candidate, Donald Trump, who tried to win by bullying and interrupting instead of a civilized exchange of responses to issues. When one debater is talking, other debaters must be silent. The job of the moderator is to ask the questions and control the time. In a competitive debate, the actions of one member (i.e. Candidate Trump interrupting Candidate Clinton) to interfere with the other member is an automatic disqualification for the offending member. When a member exceeds the time limit, their microphone is turned off. In the interest of allowing voters to be fully informed, political campaign debates should be conducted under Robert’s Rules of Order. Let’s demand that such debates be conducted by a neutral moderator and not be allowed to become a shouting match where the loudest prevails. Return fairness to the election process.
Refer to Robert’s Rules of Order, Section IV: Debate. www.rulesonline.com/...