Editorials

State voters' guide worth a try
If informed voters are a key ingredient in the recipe for a thriving democracy - and they are - then there's something to like about a proposal that Illinois produce and distribute a voters' guide for statewide elections.

A task force led by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White and Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka is recommending that Illinois embark on a pilot project in which the state Board of Elections would produce and distribute voters' guides in each statewide election through 2007. At that time, state officials would evaluate the effort and decide whether to continue.

Each guide would describe and outline the responsibilities of each statewide office. That alone could help Illinoisans puzzled, for example, by the difference between the comptroller and treasurer offices. The guide would contain biographical information on each statewide and state legislative candidate, along with a statement written by each candidate that could, for instance, cover each candidate's legislative priorities and motivation for seeking office.

Among the more promising elements of this proposal is that each county would have the option of producing a supplemental local voting guide that could include a sample ballot and specific instructions for voting machines used locally. That's appealing, particularly in the wake of the last November's Florida fiasco and voter dissatisfaction in Cook County over a lengthy and confusing judicial ballot.

The task force suggests that the guide be mailed to every household in the state in mid-September before any November general election. While we fear that such an early mailing would hit residents before they're thinking about the election, we understand the goal of getting the guide in residents' hands while there's still time to register.

The state would spend about $2.5 million to produce this guide and follow the lead of eight other states that distribute such material.

While we would not make the guide a top priority for the state, we do think the pilot is worth pursuing if the budget allows.

Careful evaluation would be needed, and the guide's effectiveness would need to be measured in any way possible. Among the questions to be asked if the pilot project is carried out: Does voter registration increase? Voter turnout? Are there fewer spoiled ballots?

The more difficult question to answer would be whether the guide produces a more informed voter when it comes to choosing candidates. Would the guide provide candidate information that voters couldn't get from newspapers, television news, Internet sites or political ads?

Maybe or maybe not. But again, considering the value of an informed citizenry, the pilot project seems worthwhile.