November 4, 2009

Voters Owned Elections Success in Chapel Hill

Posted at 2:14 PM by Chase Foster

Voter-Owned Elections will be a death knell for the candidates who use it.

Chapel Hill doesn’t have a problem with big money in elections.

There aren’t enough people using the program for it to have any impact.

All of these myths were shattered Tuesday night, when Voter-Owned Elections candidates Mark Kleinschmidt and Penny Rich were swept into office.

Kleinschmidt, who won the mayor’s race, was the only mayoral candidate who participated in the program. To qualify, he raised over 150 $10 and $20 contributions from Chapel Hill voters and agreed to strict spending and fundraising limits. In exchange he received a $9,000 grant to run his campaign. “The voter-owned fund played a crucial role in making sure that I could get my message out to voters,” Kleinschmidt said in a Common Cause press release today. “This was one of the most substantive campaigns I’ve ever been a part of, and a lot of that is because participating in the public financing program took the focus off of money and put it on issues.”

In contrast, the second place finisher Matt Czaijkowski raised tens of thousands of dollars ($28,000 as of 10/19/2009), an unprecedented figure for Chapel Hill, where campaigns are generally low cost. In many places, this kind of asymmetrical spending would guarantee victory (the top spender wins 9 times out of 10), but because Kleinschmidt was part of the program, he was able to stay competitive. In the final weeks of the election, he received $4,000 in rescue money that helped level the playing field and provided a key check on Czajkowski’s campaign spending.

Rich, in her second run for office, proved the merits of the program in a different way. She was the top vote getter on Tuesday night, receiving more votes than seven other candidates, including three incumbents. Rich designed her campaign around the Voter-Owned Elections program, using it as a tool to engage average citizens throughout the town. She far exceeded the minimum 75 contributions necessary to participate, and even got one qualifying donation from the person who regularly bags her groceries. Rich said in the News & Observer that the program had worked exactly the way it was supposed to: engaging more voters in the democratic process. “It feels like the voter-owned election program really worked,” said Rich. “We engaged the citizens, and they gave it back.”

All in all, the program was a success. Far from being turned off by Voter-Owned Elections, voters were enlivened by it, thrilled to see that their small contribution and participation could make a real difference. In the mayoral race the program served as an important check on big spending campaigns. And in the council race, the top vote getter was the one Voter-Owned candidate. Even though only two candidates participated in the program, Voter-Owned Elections still had a positive impact on the political process. Next time around, candidates would be wise to follow Rich’s and Kleinschmidt’s winning strategy and run the Voter-Owned way.

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3 Comments

3 Comments Add yours »

Liz Adams 5 Nov 2009 9:36 am

We need to bring Voter Owned Elections to Cary!!!

http://wake.mync.com/site/Wake/news/story/44029/cary-campaign-hijinks-result-in-formal-complaint/

http://www.loriforcary.org/RobinsonContributions.html

Water and sewer connections are the new currency in the NC politicians pay to play. Cary will continue to pollute Jordan Lake as long as the developers have no citizen oversight.

Matthew Addison 6 Nov 2009 9:23 am

Great article, Chase. Voter-Owned elections are the way to go!

Matt 6 Nov 2009 8:33 pm

love it! another victory for public financing. congrats to two great candidates and to Chapel Hill for blazing the path.

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