Chapel Hill may lose voter-owned elections program

Chapel Hill has served as a model for publicly funded election programs for the past two years — but that could soon be coming to an end.

This year’s elections, held Nov. 8, will mark the second time contenders for town office can participate in the town’s voter-owned election ordinance, which debuted in 2009 and is the only such program in the state.

The voluntary program gives candidates the option to receive public funding from town taxpayer money for their campaigns if they accept only $5 to $20 donations.

Mayoral candidates must collect $1,676 and town council candidates $838 to receive a maximum of $10,053 of campaign funding and $3,351 in public funds, respectively.

At least five candidates are using the program for this election — up from two in 2009.

Despite the program’s growth, it is set to sunset after this election unless the candidates and community embrace it, said Ferrell Guillory, a professor in the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The program

Chapel Hill first received authorization for the voter-owned program from the N.C. General Assembly in 2007.

Enacted on June 9, 2008, the voter-owned ordinance is meant to ensure candidates have community support by requiring a large number of small donations.

The pilot program is meant to increase government diversity and participation by removing election funding barriers.

Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt and Councilwoman Penny Rich were the only two candidates to participate in the program in 2009.
Gary Bartlett, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections, said although the program has received a largely positive reaction and has since grown, its continuation is in jeopardy.

“The program will sunset later this year unless new legislation comes up making it permanent or extending it,” Bartlett said.
If the town wishes to continue the option, it must submit a report to the state legislature — which passed the legislation when Democrats were in the majority.

Guillory said that beyond partisanship, national support for participation in publicly funded campaigns has recently declined.
“There doesn’t seem to be as much steam in the reform movement as there used to be,” he said. “It’s gotten increasingly difficult to convince people to take part in it and to be effective.”

Candidates reactions

Kleinschmidt, who used the program in the last mayoral election, said he has filed to participate again this fall but will not accept the public grant money.

He said he expects to finance his campaign entirely from small-dollar donations allowed through the program.

He said using the funding option helped him to better connect with the community.

“I had very wealthy people make contributions while others waited tables on Franklin Street, but each only gave me twenty dollars,” he said.

Councilman Matt Czajkowski, who didn’t participate in the program during his 2009 mayoral campaign, said he opposes the idea of
publicly funded elections.

He said he will finance his 2011 town council re-election campaign through traditional funding options.

He also said he believes the program’s controversial nature takes away from the substantive issues of the campaign.

“I’ll tell you what, we have much more significant issues to discuss,” he said.

“To me, this is almost a distraction.”

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