Arts North Carolina has researched best practices and learned from success stories here in NC to create this easy to use step-by-step guide that will walk you through the process of creating, distributing, and sharing an arts focused candidate survey for local elections. This is a fantastic way to elevate the arts as an issue in your community and build relationships with elected (or about to be elected) officials.

Download Survey Toolkit as a PDF

Creating the Survey

• Decide which race or races for which you are going to survey candidates. You will want the questions in the survey to be appropriate for each race and related to the office for which the candidates are running.  You can survey one race, or several, such as State Legislator, County Commission, City Council/Mayor, or School Board.
• Get input from your arts partners by contacting the arts constituency you want to represent and find out what issues are most important to them. You may also ask for input form the same partners on the completed survey before distributing it to candidates.
• Create the survey using an online format, such as Google Forms or Survey Monkey, as that is how most candidates prefer to complete surveys. However, you should also create a printable version that candidates can print and fill out, or that can be mailed or delivered to them. Your survey should be no more than 10 questions, preferably 5 to 7, and should be no more than one page printed. Candidates fill out many of these surveys, and may avoid longer ones.
• The first question should be the candidate’s name and/or email address so you can easily identify who is responding.
• Warm them up by asking one or two personal questions about the arts, such as what background they may have in the arts, or what arts activities they have participated in recently. You may provide multiple choice answers if you like, but you should leave a space for “other” and always include an option for “additional comments” to be added.  This will help the candidate to make a personal connection to the arts before answering questions more related to the specific race. This information is also extremely helpful for arts advocacy when/if you engage them later as an elected official. 
• Educate the candidate prior to each question by providing background information such as economic impact, employment, or community engagement demographics. The background statement must be factual information, not opinion, though it should support your position. The survey is as much an opportunity for the candidate to become informed about your issue, as it is to find out their position.
• Provide an easy way to answer each question first such as with multiple choice (Yes/No/Maybe/Need More Information OR Strongly Agree/Agree/Disagree/Undecided).
• Provide an opportunity to say more for each question by providing an optional space for a written answer labeled “additional comments” or “please explain your answer.”
• You can ask a “cross-sector” question that may be related to the arts, arts education, or creative workers, but not exclusively such as affordable housing, child care, or transportation. In the background provided, briefly describe how the issue affects the arts community before posing the question on that topic. Adding a question like this can make the survey feel less politically specific and allows candidates to speak on a broader range of issues.
• If surveying candidate for multiple races, either create a survey using more general questions that apply to all races, or create multiple surveys that are specific to each race. For example, you should not be asking school board candidates about their position on city funding for operating support of nonprofit arts organizations.

Sample Survey Questions

Surveying the Candidates

• Get the official list of candidates from your County Board of Elections or the NC State Board of Elections. You should reach out to candidates using only the email address, phone number, and/or mailing address provided.
• Send the survey the SAME WAY TO ALL candidates with ample time (2-3 weeks) to complete prior to your due date (which should allow you time to publish the result shortly before the first day of early voting). It is best to start by emailing the survey, then following up regularly to every candidate that has yet to respond, in the same manner and with the same frequency (more details below).
• Include a clear, brief, yet detailed message that includes the name of your organization and its mission, the exact due date when the survey needs to be completed, clear instruction on how to complete and submit the survey online or by mail (including how they can obtain a printed version if they are unable to print their own), and how the results will be made available to the public (website, press release, scheduled media story, etc.). Make sure you use a tone that is both professional and polite and be grateful for their time and consideration.
• Remind those candidates that have not completed the survey one week before it is due, then the day before it is due, and also the day it is due. Continue to provide the same clear message in a polite and professional tone. You may mention how many other candidates have completed the survey (do not use names, i.e. “12 out of 14 candidates have responded, make sure you are not left out”) or that the names of those candidates that do not complete the survey may also be published. Follow up with emails, phone calls or mailings to every candidate that has yet to respond, but in the exact same manner and with the same frequency for all candidates. It is crucial, especially if you are representing a nonprofit, that you do not treat any one candidate differently than another or try harder to get certain candidates to respond.
• Survey either before the primary or the general election. Surveying before the primary election is preferred because candidates are more likely to submit a response so as not to be overlooked in a crowded field, however there are more candidates to engage which can be more difficult. If you want to survey a wide variety of races, it may be easier to do so after the primary winners have been decided and there are fewer candidates to contact. You may choose to focus on one race before the primary and then survey candidates for multiple races after the primaries, prior to the general election.
• Thank the candidates for completing the survey and let them know how the information will be shared. Also, notify them when the results are posted on your website, and when/if it will be covered by media outlets online, in print, or on TV or radio.

Spreading the Word

• Post the responses on your website shortly before early voting begins, which in North Carolina is 18 days prior to each election day. Be sure to organize the candidates by what office they are running for, then alphabetically, so as not to show any preference. Try to have the responses posted a day or two before early voting begins for each election.
• Tell everyone through email and social media that the survey responses have been posted. Make sure to do this multiple times during the early voting period and before election day, or if possible, before both the primary and general elections. This is also a great opportunity to remind people to vote and provide voting resources and information.
• Ask for help to spread the word from your creative community. Artists, arts leaders and arts lovers should be encouraged to spread the word. The partners who you asked for input to create the survey should now be invested in helping share the candidate responses. 
• Create a press release that includes links to the survey questions and results, as well as a description of your organization and why you are surveying these candidates specifically. You should send the press release out well in advance of the survey responses be made public and include specific information about how and when the candidate responses will be available. This will increase the likelihood the media outlet will cover the release of the responses.
• Contact the media directly and ask them to publish the results. Press releases can be easily missed in a busy election cycle. You can work with a local newspaper or other media outlet to be the one to exclusively share the results. Approaching the arts columnist with this idea can be very effective as the media is often eager for new angles leading up to the election. 
• NONPROFITS CAN NOT AT ANY TIME OR IN ANY WAY SHOW ANY PREFERENCE OR IMPLY ANY ENDORSEMENT FOR A CANDIDATE OR THEIR RESPONSE.