There are two methods users can ask questions to the candidates in a moderator elections:
- They can comment on the nomination
- They can ask a question in the town hall chat.
The comment system has the disadvantages that it is nearly invisible once the nomination phase is over, that it is unorganized and often filled with tangential comments and that candidates can easily avoid it by nominating shortly before the deadline.
The town hall chat is a very good idea in principle, but I don't think that using chat for this is ideal. The huge main problem is that using chat severely limits the number of users that can actively participate. You have to be present at the exact time, which is often difficult especially when different timezones come into play. Of course users can ask someone else to put forth a specific question and read the transcript later, but that is not obvious to most users. The timing is also less than ideal, as the exact time and date can only be arranged after the nomination is finished, which puts the town hall rather late into the election cycle.
Instead of a real-time chat I would propose that users can submit questions during the nomination phase, and that all candidates then get the opportunity to answer those questions whenever they have time. This would eliminate the need to find a date and time for the chat event, which is usually rather difficult due to timezone differences.
It might also make sense to allow voting on the questions themselves, and give an easy way to see the answers of the candidates to the most upvoted questions. It might also be necessary to be able to close non-constructive questions. The idea is to give voters more chances to ask the candidates questions, and to make the results more easily available and more obvious than the current town hall transcripts.