CNN has announced a new initiative enabling viewers to post questions on topics surrounding this year's election, to be answered by candidates and their campaign officials. CNN's press release below.

CNN Press Release: CNN iReport, the network’s global participatory news community, announced today the iReport Debate – the first fully user-generated debate series of the 2012 election cycle. Through the iReport platform anyone can participate by raising the political topics and policy questions that matter most to them, debating them with the community, and submitting their issues for response by campaigns, candidates, and other newsmakers.

"We know CNN will cover the candidates and big political events like no other network can. But we also know they're only part of the story,” said Lila King, participation director for CNN Digital. “The iReport Debate is meant to draw out the voices of the voters and make sure that they are reflected in the way CNN covers the election."

For the next several months, iReport will take a three-phased approach to put voters in the spotlight:

1) Name your issue: From now until May 4, voters can nominate the election issue that matters most to them by uploading video or text iReports. CNN will then identify their top 20 issues and allow users to rank them by importance.

2) Talk it out: Once the community selects their most pressing issues, iReporters will be invited to go head-to-head and debate those topics throughout the summer.

3) Make them listen: Leading up to the general elections, CNN will invite the presidential campaigns to participate in an iReport Interview, where community members will have the opportunity to ask questions about the top issues raised throughout the debate process.

For more information or to participate in the iReport Debate, visit http://CNNiReport.com/debate.