At Thursday’s Chapel Hill Town Council meeting, council members postponed a decision on financing election campaigns through public funding until after election season.
The Chapel Hill Voter-Owned Elections Program allows candidates to use public funds to finance their election campaigns. The program, which has been in place since 2007, seeks to level the playing field for candidates who may not be as wealthy or well-connected and limit campaign spending.
Because the N.C. General Assembly did not reapprove the town’s authority to regulate the program before it adjourned, the program is currently unavailable to town residents.
Town Councilman Jim Ward pointed out that the Voter-Owned Election website is still up and is misleading, since the program is not available at this time.
The discussion was in response to a petition submitted last fall proposing an end to funding for municipal campaign signage. The petition also proposed posting candidates’ information on the town’s website.
The town has considered banning municipal campaign signs in public spaces, but can’t under state law.
The council will consider promoting the election in neutral ways like voter education, posting unbiased information about candidates on the town’s website, and promoting participation.
If the general assembly re-approves the voter-owned election program, Ward said he believes having authority to reinstate voter-owned elections will help remove the influence of money in the election process.
The council ruled to defer action at this time, but requested enabling legislation through the local delegation in the upcoming session of the January General Assembly meeting.
Quotable: “All she wanted to do was get her tooth pulled and she came back and gave everyone a hug.” – Penny Rich, on a woman at Thursday’s Project Connect event who received free dental care.
Notable: Orange County’s Jewish population was heavily represented at the bus advertising public hearing tonight – about 26 of the 32 petitions from the public came from Jewish residents.
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