Citizens will have an opportunity to ask questions or offer opinions about health care reform and other issues at tonight’s town hall meeting hosted by Congressman Brian Baird.

The free meeting is set for 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the Cowlitz County Expo Center (fairgrounds) in Longview.

Attendees who wish to speak or ask questions should write their names and cities of residence on cards, which will be drawn at random by an independent moderator. Speakers will be held to a three-minute time limit, which will also apply to Baird’s responses.

The structure “will give a real chance for people from many different perspectives to be heard,” Baird said in a written statement last week that also urged all sides to work together “to restore civil dialogue and accurate discussion of facts.”

In recent weeks, town hall meetings around the nation have been disrupted by so much shouting, chanting and violence that nothing could be heard, Baird said.

Commissioner Axel Swanson said the Longview Police Department will provide security for the tonight’s event. LPD Capt. Jim Duscha would not discuss the details.

Swanson said signs will be allowed outside the building but not inside.

Baird initially planned to hold only telephone town meetings in August. Public demand led him to schedule five meetings, the first of which took place Tuesday night at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Ridgefield.

These meetings are open to all Southwest Washington residents. The three additional meetings, also from 7 to 9:30 p.m., will take place:

n Aug. 31 in South Puget Sound College’s Minnaert Center for the Arts, 2011 Mottman Road S.W., Tumwater;

n Sept. 1 in the Ilwaco High School auditorium, 314 Brumbach Ave. N.E., Ilwaco;

n Sept. 2 in Centralia College’s Corbet Theatre, 600 Centralia College Blvd., Centralia.