Town halls used to be an opportunity for constituents to listen to their elected officials, and, more importantly, ask questions and express concerns.

Fewer and fewer members of Congress are holding town halls, though.

Rep. Paul Gosar had planned to have one Thursday, but it’s been canceled and replaced by a telephone town hall instead.

To learn more about how town halls have changed and the strategy behind them, we spoke with political consultant Marcus Dell’Artino, a partner at Phoenix-based First Strategic.