EDITORIAL: TOO POOR OR TOO RICH, SOME CANDIDATES HAVE NO BALLOT STATEMENTS. THAT’S A DISSERVICE TO VOTERS THAT SHOULD BE CHANGED

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By Miriam Raftery

October 13, 2018 (San Diego) – Why doesn’t Gavin Newsom, the Democratic nominee for Governor, have a ballot statement?  Why do some candidates for local offices have them, and others don’t?

Money is the key reason. There’s a cost for ballot statements, which is prohibitive for candidates with low incomes—and conversely, campaign finance laws keep even well-funded candidates from being able to have their statements published in official taxpayer-funded voter information pamphlets.

 In Newsom’s case, California law forbids gubernatorial candidates who don’t accept campaign spending limits of $14.5 million from buying a ballot statement. Newsom has spent over $21 million, more than double his Republican opponent, John Cox. So, Cox has a ballot statement, but Newsom does not. But the rule amounts to censorship of information for voters to easily access information in mailers that we as taxpayers are funding.

For many local candidates in smaller races, the cost of a ballot statement is a barrier.

East County Magazine was asked this election cycle by two candidates who lacked funds for a ballot statement to help them get word out about their candidacy. One was running for an unpaid position on a community planning group, the other for a fire board.  We responded by publishing information on all candidates in those races.

But why should media be the last-resort option to educate voters when government denies poor candidates the right to equal space in your ballot booklet?  What if local media gets overwhelmed with candidates in many races making similar requests?  In East County, there are 52 races on the ballot. It would be impossible to cover them all.

It’s time for the state and local governments to make ballot statements available free for all candidates. 

The current system favors wealthy candidates or those with special interest money over low-income people running for local races, particularly in disadvantaged rural areas and inner-city neighborhoods.

Conversely, in important statewide races, all voters should have the right to read a statement by each candidate on election day, regardless of how much was spent on campaigning elsewhere. Not everyone watches TV where paid political ads may be run, or watches videos on social media.   

In a democracy, all candidates should have equal access to voters in the official election materials sent by state or local governments.

Voters may mistakenly believe that a candidate with no ballot statement is careless, missed a deadline, or is hiding what they stand for.  Current law focuses on the obligations of candidates, but fails to address the rights and needs of voters to be informed equally about everyone on their ballots, regardless of their financial ability to pay.

Fees for ballot statements should be eliminated, especially for local races where many positions are unpaid.  No candidate should be prohibited from having voters read their message in publications produced by the government and mailed to all voters.  Imposing fees favors those with access to special interest funding at the expense of many running solely with their communities’ best interests at heart.

If eliminating all ballot statements proves too costly in lost revenues, at least eliminate ballot statement fees for unpaid and low-paid positions and retain then only for higher tier races. While it’s good to encourage candidates to abide by campaign finance limits, if someone doesn’t, instead of barring them from having a ballot statement, one option would be to charge them a higher fee which they can clearly afford. This would allow each candidate’s message to be seen by voters on an equal footing with their opponent’s ballot statement.

After all, ballot statements are often the most persuasive message in campaigns, read by most voters before they cast their votes. For government to favor some candidates over others by imposing financial or bureaucratic barriers is, in a word, undemocratic.

The opinions in this editorial reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of East County Magazine. To submit an editorial for consideration, contact editor@eastcountymagazine.org.


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