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Mar. 31, 2008

Pioneering Candidates Launch Voter-Owned Elections

By John Thompson

RALEIGH – Nearly six years ago, North Carolina took the initiative to reduce the influence of money in politics and instituted what became a national model: a voluntary system of public financing for its appellate court campaigns.

Having an alternative to chasing money from the lawyers who one day might stand before them in court opened the door to judicial candidates who had been turned off by the old style of judicial politics.

“I avoided running in the past when campaigns required raising large amounts of money and were heavily partisan,” said Suzanne Reynolds, a candidate this year for the N.C. Supreme Court. “With the advent of public financing and nonpartisan races, the process became, for me, more compatible with the principles of fairness and impartiality that should characterize the selection of judges."

North Carolina has moved to build upon the success of our system of publicly financed judicial elections.  State lawmakers approved the launch of the Voter-Owned Elections Pilot during last year’s legislative session. The program offers public financing to candidates for three Council of State races -- auditor, commissioner of insurance and state superintendent of public instruction.

The pilot program is now underway, creating a marketplace of ideas and allowing voters to decide who is fit to serve based on good old-fashioned campaigning, instead of big-dollar fundraising. Participation is high among the candidates vying for the offices covered by the program, but as with any change, some adjustment has been required of the contenders as they shift from the old way of collecting campaign cash.

“Raising nearly $30,000 through contributions between $10 and $200 in a compressed time schedule is harder than I thought,” said Fred Aikens, a candidate for state auditor.

The $30,000 that Aikens refers to is a sort of sweat equity that he and all other participating candidates must raise in order to demonstrate popular support. In order to qualify, this money must be raised in amounts between $10 and $200, and come from at least 750 registered North Carolina voters.

It does take real effort on the part of the candidates to earn public financing.  But if they raise the qualifying funds and win their primary, they are eligible for a grant from the state to use in the general election, freeing them to spend more time with voters instead of wealthy donors.

“When I explain to voters how the program works and that it allows them to take back their vote from special interests, they gladly participate financially by making $10 contributions,” said Beth Wood. Like Aikens, she is seeking the Democratic nomination for auditor in the May 6 primary.

Wood’s experience of public support for the Voter-Owned Elections Pilot is reinforced by a study commissioned by the nonpartisan N.C. Center for Voter Education last summer that found 68 percent of North Carolina voters in favor of the program.

I asked State Superintendent June Atkinson and Eddie Davis, her challenger in the primary, what they think of the program.

“The pilot program levels the playing field by taking away the advantage that incumbents normally have when fundraising, opens up the process and candidates have to get back to basics to participate,” Atkinson said.

“This program is a breath of fresh air for regular citizens,” Davis told me.  “No longer do you have to be a millionaire to genuinely participate in the democratic process. A person who gives $10 can say that it means more than a contribution given to a candidate outside the pilot program.”

Bravo to these candidates for being pioneers in the Voter-Owned Elections Pilot and bravo to those legislators that voted for its creation. In the wake of scandal that has scarred our state government, it is heartening to see leaders -- to invoke our state’s motto -- being, rather than simply seeming to be, in favor of protecting the integrity of our democracy.

John Thompson is the executive director of the N.C. Center for Voter Education, a Raleigh-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving elections in North Carolina.