Jun. 27, 2005
Voters Want to Know More, Spend Less on Elections
By J. Barlow Herget
RALEIGH - Anyone who watches TV-comic Jay Leno’s interviews with people on the street might not be surprised that more North Carolinians know the name of the current Tar Heel basketball coach than the State Treasurer.
The blank-eyed subjects of Leno’s pop quizzes are apt to say George Bush is a pop singer, or Canada is found in Asia. But while those clueless folks are ridiculously uninformed, are North Carolina voters really to blame if they can’t name the current State Auditor? Really, when was the last time Mr. Merritt was the topic of your Monday morning water cooler chat?
(For those keeping score, 26 percent of voters correctly named Coach Roy Williams and 5 percent knew that the Treasurer was Richard Moore – 2 percent could name Auditor Les Merritt.)
The news about Williams and Moore came out of a new survey by the North Carolina Center for Voter Education. It is a timely poll, given that legislation is under consideration in the General Assembly regarding elections and voting.
For example, one of the more interesting findings revealed by the study is that the number-one reason folks don’t always vote isn’t because they’re apathetic or cynical – it’s simply because they don’t have the facts they need to cast a well-informed ballot.
Only 12 percent admitted they simply weren’t interested in elections; and just 6 percent believed their vote wouldn’t “make a difference.”
Compare that with 36 percent who didn’t vote because they “don’t know enough about the candidates.” It was the single largest reason given by people who didn’t vote, and it suggests that with better information such as voter guides, these people will go to the polls.
The survey, by Alexandria, V.A.-based American Viewpoint, was taken between June 6-8. It canvassed 800 North Carolinians across the state.
That nonvoters say they don’t have enough information on candidates is not surprising. Much of the major media, especially television, wastes hours of airtime on soap opera trials or sensational stories about runaway-brides.
A recent Congressional Research Service study showed, for instance, that three days after the Downing Street Memo about the buildup to the Iraq War was revealed, it received no coverage on 13 cable news shows. By contrast, when Michael Jackson was formally charged, 10 of 13 shows covered the news, four of them leading with the story.
But we don’t need a congressional study to tell us that. What could be helpful is to make use of the information in the NCCVE survey.
For instance, it again showed that North Carolinians increasingly are worried about the high cost of elections and the influence of special interest money in state campaigns.
(These are bipartisan attitudes. A solid 77 percent majority of Democrats and Republicans in the survey indicated that the cost of campaigning for office “keeps qualified people from running.” And a 57 percent majority believe campaign contributors have a “great deal” of influence on elected officials’ decisions once they take office.)
But these same voters also showed a greater willingness to support public financing as a way to both reduce high campaign costs and special interest influence. This is perhaps the most practical finding because the General Assembly is considering in both the Senate (SB 1042) and House (HB 1563) legislation to extend public financing to most Council of State races.
The Voter Owned Elections (VOE) bill would affect Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Attorney General, along with the Commissioners of Agriculture, Labor and Insurance.
(Coincidentally, a report by Democracy North Carolina on contributions to these officeholders showed that a significant chunk of campaign money comes from the very people regulated by the respective offices.)
There is another bill that would make five of these executive-branch offices appointed by the governor. But that may be a hard sell to North Carolinians.
Tar Heel voters continue to want to elect Council of State members by a 2 percent margin. (By a 14-point margin, however, voters say they favor just electing the governor, lieutenant governor, auditor, treasurer and attorney general.) Too close to call.
But let’s look at the larger lessons in the survey:
*One, voters need more information on candidates – especially those running for Council of State offices such as Auditor and State School Superintendent.
*Two, voters are justifiably concerned about the influence of special interests in elections.
*Three, voters in both parties are willing to try a voluntary publicly financed system for Council of State campaigns.
The VOE legislation is taking a back seat at the moment to negotiations over the budget bill. The VOE bills deserve consideration, and the NCCVE survey shows that a majority of the voters favor such legislation.
Now’s a good time to remind legislators of that news.
Barlow Herget is a former Raleigh city councilman and writes the Follow the Money column for the N.C. Center for Voter Education.
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