Being a candidate for public office in Lawrence can be hard work.

Many nights during campaign season, candidates are invited to forums organized by neighborhood associations, business groups and other civic organizations across town.

A new organization, the Voter Election Coalition, is trying to streamline that process by uniting 10 local organizations to offer public candidate forums during campaigns.

“Candidates are often hit from so many directions that it gets very wearing on them to have to respond to everybody’s request for forums or visits,” said Dave Johnson, a member of the coalition and chief executive officer at Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center. “So we thought the candidates might appreciate it, too.”

Already, the coalition has put on a forum featuring candidates running for Douglas County district attorney, 10th District Kansas House, which includes south-central Lawrence, 3rd District Kansas Senate, which includes a portion of Lawrence north of Sixth Street, and 2nd District Kansas Senate, which includes a portion of Lawrence south of Sixth Street. A second forum, featuring candidates for other contested countywide races in the Nov. 2 election, is tentatively set for Oct. 19.

The forums will be televised on Sunflower Broadband Channel 6. One of the coalition members is The World Company, which owns the Journal-World and 6News.

The coalition plans to step up its efforts next spring, when seats for the Lawrence City Commission and Lawrence school board are up for election.

Members of the coalition said the sheer number of public forums during the 2003 city and school elections was unfair to candidates. The coalition schedule of forums should help reduce that burden, they said.

“I think the benefit, the biggest thing is, they’re not going to wear the applicants down,” said Bob Ebey, a member of Landlords of Lawrence, a coalition member. “I know if I was running for City Commission and was expected to attend 25 meetings — that’s too much.”

Lavern Squier, CEO of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said the coalition events should be less partisan than forums in previous years.

“It seemed to make some common sense to fold those (other forums) together to give candidates access to the voters on a broad basis … and let the forum series focus on what’s good for Lawrence and the community,” Squier said.

Lawrence City Commissioner Sue Hack has not said whether she’ll run for re-election in spring. But she praised the coalition.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Hack said. “People from a lot of different stakeholders have taken part in working on this project, and I think it’s going to do nothing but help the voters understand the candidates’ positions.”

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Johnson said voters shouldn’t be concerned the coalition’s efforts to streamline the process might reduce opportunities to meet candidates.

“Our intent is to be a broad net,” Johnson said, “and offer this to as many different people in the community as we can.”