Are you headed to a town hall event, election forum, or did you just run into a candidate at the grocery store?

Take along our handy list of sample questions that you can use to ask the candidates about issues that are important to women and families.  Find out where your candidates stand!   And, you don't have to ask your question in-person. On Twitter? Check out our list of sample questions in Tweet-form below (Scroll down). You can cut and paste these directly into Twitter and Tweet them to your candidate.

Let us know what happened!  Did you ask a candidate a question or two?  Let us know how it went! Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page!

Happy Voting!  

Sample Questions to Ask Candidates:

Paycheck Fairness: It’s 2012 and despite the fact that Equal Pay Act was passed almost 50 years ago, the fact remains that women are still paid, on average, 23 percent less than men are paid for the same work. Mothers and women of color experience even further hits. Do you support passing the Paycheck Fairness Act to improve enforcement of existing civil rights laws aimed at closing the pay gap between men and women?

Healthcare:  64.8 million Americans have pre-existing conditions and are at risk of being denied insurance without the protections of the Affordable Care Act.  How would your health care plan protect these Americans?  And if you will not allow insurance companies to deny these Americans insurance, how will it be economically feasible for insurance companies to cover these higher risk groups?

Earned Sick Days: We all get sick, yet 40% of all workers in the United States, including 80% of low wage workers, are unable to take even a single earned sick day when they, or their child, are sick. That means they are at risk of losing a day’s pay – possibly even their jobs – if they take a day off of work because they are sick, or their child is sick. Studies have shown that access to earned sick days is good for the economy and helps keep people in the jobs they need. It also helps employers’ bottom lines. What will you do to build this important economic safety net for American workers?

Paid Family and Medical Leave: Having a baby is a leading cause of poverty spells for women in the United States. Study after study has shown there are huge benefits to our national economy in terms of greater workforce attachment, less reliance on public assistance, and stronger, healthier families when new moms and dads can take paid time off of work to care for new children. If elected, what will you do to make it easier for Americans to access job protected, paid family leave?

Child Care:  With child care costing more than college in most U.S. states, parents across the country are struggling to find and afford quality child care. Yet studies have shown how important quality early learning experiences are to brain development.  What are your plans empower parents to give children a great start?

Immigration:  Can you give us details of your plan to support fair treatment for immigrant families and to acknowledge their contributions to our economy?

Clean Air:  Right now a whopping one in 10 children in the United States have asthma, yet big polluters and their allies continue to attack clean air protections. What are the ways you're going to improve air quality?

Toxics: Our current chemicals legislation, the Toxic Substances Control Act, has not been updated since 1976. In the 34 years since TSCA was enacted, the EPA has only been able to require testing on 200 of the over 80,000 chemicals produced and used in the US, and only 5 of these chemicals have been regulated under the law. Our broken system leaves us exposed to countless toxic chemicals every day, chemicals that put our families at risk for cancer, learning disabilities, infertility, and more. How will you help protect children and families from toxic chemicals?

School Food: Nearly 23 million school-age children are overweight or obese, making them more likely to suffer from heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 Diabetes, and more.  Yet, according to USDA, the availability of vending machines in middle schools has more than doubled since the 1990s. Another study found that, as recently as the 2009-2010 school year, nearly half of the nation’s elementary students could buy unhealthy snack foods at school. If elected, what will you do to ensure that children have healthy foods in schools?

Living Wage:  The federal minimum wage at $7.25 per hour and the tipped minimum wage at $2.13 per hour are stuck in the dark ages. For decades, while the cost of living goes up and up, many full-time workers, especially women aren't earning enough money to make ends meet. People who work full-time shouldn't live in poverty. How will you help bring American workers earn a living wage.

--- Sample questions in Tweet-form ----

Below are some sample questions written just for Twitter. You can use these to Tweet questions to candidates or elected officials. Just be sure to put the right Twitter handle in the tweet before sending!

• #Paidsickdays are good for workers, good for business and good for public health.#RU4paidsickdays ?
• Having a baby is a leading cause of #poverty spells in the #US. Do you support/oppose #paidfamilyleave?
• Do you support or oppose Passing #PaycheckFairnessAct 2 close the #paygap between men and women?
• Do you support or oppose allowing #kids 2 remain on parents’ healthcare plans till 26, a provision that was included in #ACA?