Raleigh, N.C. – Seventy-seven percent of North Carolina voters say switching from the current partisan State Board of Elections make-up to a board with equal party representation would help administer elections more impartially, according to a new poll released today by the Civitas Institute.
Currently the State Board of Elections is comprised of 5 members appointed by the Governor; 3 are from the Governor’s party and 2 are from the other major party. Seventy-seven percent of voters said they agree that switching from this current make-up to a board with equal party representation would help North Carolina administer elections and oversee campaign finance violations in a more fair and impartial manner. Sixteen percent said they disagree, and 7 percent said they do not know or have no opinion.
“This poll indicates the people of North Carolina understand that the overtly partisan nature of the State Board of Elections is unacceptable and agree North Carolina would be better served by a more balanced board,” said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.
Further analysis reveals that voters of all party registrations agree that switching to a bipartisan board make-up would help fairly administer elections. Republicans (85 percent agree-9 percent disagree), unaffiliateds (85 percent agree-10 percent disagree) and Democratic voters agree by a 68 percent-22 percent margin.
“As the General Assembly works on election reform, the voting public would also support a reform of the board overseeing elections and campaign finance,” added De Luca.
The Civitas Poll is the only monthly live-caller poll of critical issues facing North Carolina. For more information on Civitas polling see http://www.nccivitas.org/category/poll/.
Full text of question:
“The North Carolina State Board of Elections is comprised of 5 members appointed by the Governor. Three members are from the Governor’s party and 2 are from the other major party. Other states have a Board of Elections comprised of equal number of members from each of the 2 major parties and 2 appointed executive directors, one from each of the major parties.
With that information, do you agree or disagree with the following statement: “switching from North Carolina’s more partisan election board make-up to a new style of board with equal representation from the 2 major parties would help North Carolina administer elections and oversee campaign finance violations in a more fair and impartial manner?”
Total Agree – 77%
Total Disagree – 16%
Strongly Agree – 51%
Somewhat Agree – 26%
Somewhat Disagree – 10%
Strongly Disagree – 6%
Don’t Know/No Opinion – 7%
Click here for full results and crosstabs.
This poll of 600 registered general election voters in North Carolina was conducted February 10, 12-13 by National Research, Inc. of Holmdel, NJ. All respondents were part of a fully representative sample of registered voters in North Carolina. For purposes of this study, voters interviewed had to have voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
The confidence interval associated with a sample of this size is such that: 95 percent of the time, results from 600 interviews (registered voters) will be within +-4% of the “True Values.” True Values refer to the results obtained if it were possible to interview every person in North Carolina who had voted in two of the past four general elections or were newly registered to vote since 2008.
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