Feb. 16, 2005
Recommendations for N.C. Voter Guide
Based on the findings of a study on the impact of the 2004 state judicial voter guide, the N.C. Center for Voter Education makes the following recommendations:
1) Make the Voter Guides available at every polling place.
Voters that remembered receiving the voter guides found them very helpful. However, not everyone received, or remembered receiving their copy. During our research, it was expressed repeatedly to us the value of having the voter guides available at polling places for voters to reference. A limited number of "desk copies" (not to leave the polling stations) available for early voting as well as regular voting could improve voter satisfaction with the information available to them about judicial candidates.
2) Provide funding for the state to announce to voters in advance of the elections that the Voter Guides are being mailed to them.
An obstacle in improving voter awareness about judicial candidates and elections was that few voters knew they would receive a voter guide. Many voted early, prior to receiving the guide in the mail and few knew it was available on-line long before printed copies were received in mailboxes around the state. Other voters may have received it without knowing what it was and discarded it as additional political junk mail. Some method of advertising the pending release of the guides will increase voter awareness of them.
3) Clearly label the Voter Guides as the "N.C. State Board of Elections Non-Partisan Judicial Voter Guides" to avoid confusion with other political mail.
Our research has uncovered some general confusion about the different voter guides distributed during the election and questions among voters about the true source of guides they received in the mail. We have received, but not confirmed, several stories of voter guides being distributed that emulated the official state guides, but included information about only some of the candidates. Clear labeling will help fight fraud.
4) Increase funding for the publication of the Voter Guides, to ensure primary and general election editions.
In 2004, there was only one appellate court seat contested in the primary. As the state had only just begun to collect revenue for the voter guides, the State Board of Elections decided not to mail a primary edition of the voter guide, and made it available only via the Internet. It would be a disservice to voters to not provide a primary voter guide in the future, especially if more than one seat is contested in future elections.
5) Explore expanding the Voter Guides to include other races, beyond the N.C. Court of Appeals and N.C. Supreme Court.
The success of the voter guides for appellate courts can be applied to our other courts. Many voters familiar with the judicial voter guide claimed that it provided better information about the candidates than what was available to them for candidates in other elections, such as those for the congressional, state legislative, and state executive offices. Expanding the guide can ensure that candidates for these other offices can get at least some basic campaign information and a personal message in front of every voter, something that would otherwise cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more.
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