Development Matters

A Survey of Center Membership ...

Earlier this year, members of the N.C. Center for Voter Education were mailed surveys seeking their opinions on a range of campaign and election issues, as well as questions about North Carolina’s courts and the performance of our government in general.

Here are some of the results from what you, our members, are saying about the issues:

Support for Voter-Owned Elections

Center members favor expanding our system of publicly financed elections to more offices.

Council of State: Yes 77%, No 0%, Unsure/No Opinion 23%
Local Government Offices: Yes 68%, No 0%, Unsure/No Opinion 32%
Legislative Offices: Yes 68%, No 0%, Unsure/No Opinion 32%

Judicial Selection

Though divided on the best way to select judges, a majority of Center members favor changing our current system.

Favoring election: 12%,
Favoring appointment: 28%
Favoring a hybrid of election and appointment: 44%
Unsure/ no opinion: 16%

Prioritizing Issues

On a scale of 1 to 10, Center members place great importance on issues of judicial selection and regulating 527 electioneering groups, and less on issues relating to presidential elections.

How important is...

Improving judicial selection in North Carolina?  9.14 out of 10
Strengthening laws to regulate 527 electioneering activity? 9.05 out of 10
Reforming the Electoral College system for presidential elections? 7.68 out of 10
Moving North Carolina’s presidential primary to earlier in the year? 5.68 out of 10

Member Feedback (partial list):

“I think every American should be very concerned about our election process and speak their concerns.”

“My party’s leadership doesn’t seem concerned about legalized bribery in elections, but I appreciate your bipartisan approach.”

“Please continue your caring efforts! If we are to retain what remains of our democracy, we must get the big money out of elections!”

“I am concerned about public financing using the power of the state to force me to contribute to candidates I do not agree with.”

“Your work helps me retain my respect for our system of government and not become cynical about the levers of government and who controls them.”

“Congressional and legislative redistricting reform in order to create districts that are compact and contiguous and make some type of sense geographically is desperately needed! How about a commission?”

“Thank you for restoring some sanity to our elections and giving real people a fair chance to run for office without relying on special-interest contributions.”

“I'd like to see a system of regional rotating presidential primaries with the order and dates of each region rotating every election.”

“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. The same thing is probably true for public financing. It may not be perfect, but it’s better than the alternative.”