About
What this program is
The OTBA Legislative Committee records a video interview with every ballot-qualified candidate for Portsmouth City Council and Portsmouth School Board. Every candidate gets the same questions, the same time limits, the same recording conditions, and the same publication treatment. We publish the video and nothing else. No commentary, no scoring, no endorsement.
A nonpartisan voter education program of the Olde Towne Business Association Legislative Committee. Produced by Total Media Lab. Not an endorsement.
Who is responsible for what
The OTBA Legislative Committee is the editorial owner of record. It decides what questions are asked and what gets published.
Total Media Lab handles production. Cameras, audio, lighting, editing, captions, and this website. Total Media Lab has no editorial control over the questions and no say in what happens to any interview after it is recorded.
Candidate statements are their own and have not been fact-checked by OTBA or Total Media Lab.
Who pays for it
Nobody pays for it. Total Media Lab donates the production. Nothing is billed to any candidate, any campaign, any party, or any political action committee. No candidate purchased placement, extra time, a different edit, or a different publication date, because none of that is for sale here.
This site carries no advertising, no sponsored content, no email capture, and no tracking pixels.
Producer disclosure
Mobile Photo Lab, and a sister brand to Total Media Lab, has been paid for photography work by candidates who appear in this field. That work was commercial photography, unrelated to this program, and it carried no political advice or advocacy.
Every candidate in this program is recorded, edited, and published under the same protocol regardless of any prior business relationship. The protocol is published in full so you can check that for yourself.
What we will not do
- We will not rate, score, rank, or grade any candidate.
- We will not tell you who gave a better answer.
- We will not endorse anyone, and neither will OTBA or Total Media Lab.
- We will not run comments on this site or on the videos.
- We will not sell advertising or accept payment from a campaign.
- We will not restate voting dates, deadlines, or polling places in our own words. Those come from the registrar, and they come from the registrar directly.
This is not an official election website
portsmouthvote.org/ is independent. It is not affiliated with the City of Portsmouth, the Portsmouth Office of the General Registrar, or the Virginia Department of Elections.
For registration, polling places, ballots, and deadlines, contact the Portsmouth Office of the General Registrar at 757-393-8644 or visit elections.virginia.gov.
Corrections
If something on this site is wrong, tell us and we will fix it and say what we changed. Corrections go through the OTBA Legislative Committee.
Who made this possible, and what they gave
Nobody paid for this program and nothing was billed to any candidate or campaign. Three organizations gave something to make it happen, and here is exactly what each one gave.
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Olde Towne Business Association
Runs the program. The Legislative Committee invited every candidate, chose the questions, and holds every editorial decision. It is the editorial owner of record.
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Donated the room. Every interview was recorded in the same space, on the same terms, with no charge to the program or to anyone appearing in it.
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Donated the production. Cameras, lighting, audio, editing, captions, and this website. No editorial control over the questions and no say in what happens to an interview after it is recorded.