Four Million Voter Guides Sent to Every Home in N.C.
More Facts about Success of Judicial Campaign Reform...

A new tradition of voter education in North Carolina began October 12, 2004, with the mailing of a first-ever Voter Guide, produced by the State Board of Elections and financed largely by the $3 check-off on state tax returns. The Guide provides information about voting rights and procedures, along with profiles of the candidates running for the N.C. Supreme Court and N.C. Court of Appeals.

To see the guide, click on http://www.sboe.state.nc.us, scroll down to find Judicial Voter Guide, open with right clicker, and choose "Open in New Window"

OR for a direct link to the Guide, in Adobe, click on:

http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/pdf/Judicial%20Voter%20Guide%202004%20GenElect.pdf

Below is an Associated Press story about the release of the Guide.

After that is a "By the Numbers" memo from Democracy North Carolina.

Please let us know if you need more details about this important new level of information for voters and campaign reform for judicial elections.

Bob Hall, Research Director, direct line 919-489-1931 or
Main office, Democracy North Carolina, 919-967-9942

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Judicial voter guides being mailed to all N.C. households
The Associated Press, Posted October 12, 2004 2:45 pm

RALEIGH, N.C. -- State officials mailed the first of nearly 4 million voter guides on appellate court candidates Tuesday, the result of a new voluntary public campaign finance program for candidates for those seats.

The 2002 law creating the program also required the State Board of Elections to issue the voter guides to highlight the candidates to the North Carolina Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals.

This is the first year judicial candidates have received public financing and also the first time that the board has mailed the guides.

Each of the 16 candidates are named in the guide, along with personal information, legal experience, short personal statement and a photo.

The voter guides, which will be mailed to every North Carolina household in the next couple of weeks, are designed to educate the public now that candidates in these races are designated as nonpartisan. The candidates will not be identified on the ballots with a party affiliation.

The red-colored voter guides cost $497,800, or less than 13 cents each to produce and mail.

The board paid for the guides through private donations, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, N.C. Bar Association, federal grants and proceeds of a $3 checkoff on state individual income tax returns.

Early financial restrictions raised questions about whether the guide would be mailed, instead being placed only on the Internet. The primary election version of the guide only was posted on the Web.

"We did not have a lot of faith that this would happen," Gary Bartlett, the state board's executive director, said at a news conference in Raleigh. The funding, he said, "is really going to make this work."

Twelve of the 16 candidates who agreed to strict fund-raising limits has received public funds of nearly $1.5 million, according to Democracy North Carolina, a campaign finance reform group.

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Click here to read Democracy North Carolina's memorandum By the Numbers.