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State voter guide uses candidate-provided text; office consulted AG to avoid curtailing speech
Summary
The Elections Division told legislators the statewide voter guide content is provided by candidates, not curated by the office; the agency consulted the Attorney General’s office to ensure the guide remains voter education rather than campaign material.
Deputy Secretary of State Lauren Hibbert told the committee that every entry in the statewide voter guide was supplied by the candidates themselves and that the office did not research or alter candidate submissions except to remove profanity or unacceptable language.
Hibbert said the Elections Division consulted the Attorney General’s office on the voter guide’s content and cautioned against state editing that could be viewed as curtailing free speech. "We provided at the top of the voter guide that the information provided within it was provided by the candidate," Hibbert said, adding the office gave candidates notice that only profanity would be edited.
Hibbert also said the guide used a prescribed set of questions, including one that asked candidates to state their core goals for running. Some candidates declined to complete the guide because they were concerned about having opinion-based content on a state website. The Elections Division said it considered removing that question but kept it because the responses provide voters an accessible, level playing field of candidate information, particularly for candidates without websites or paid campaign staff.
The office also made the voter guide accessible online and created a view intended for classroom use; Hibbert said the division would like eventually to distribute a physical copy to every household for general elections.
