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Does spelling count, Mr. Kotter?

As you think about voting, how important is it that a City Council candidate uses correct spelling and grammar?

As Amanda Lehmert notes, some candidates preferred to use phonic spelling when answering our questionnaires. Or perhaps they just made typos and didn't check their work.

After some discussion, we decided to clean up their answers. While I enjoy watching candidates make fools of themselves as much as the next guy, I decided that it is more important that prospective voters can read their answers without the distraction of misspellings.

We don't correct story comments, though, so one candidate has outed himself.

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Tags: Elections

Posted by John Robinson on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 at 8:33 am

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RangerMatt

September 29, 2009 - 1:41 pm EDT

Personally, how candidates present themselves, both in the written and spoken forms, are important in my decision about whom I vote for. It's hard to decide if someone really represents you when all you hear are the words of the reporter and editor, and not the candidate. Just my opinion.

John Robinson

September 29, 2009 - 1:50 pm EDT

Thanks, RangerMatt. One point of clarification: We didn't put words in anyone's mouth or change their meaning or even their grammar. We did correct the spelling.

As a point of reference, some of our best and sharpest reporters aren't great spellers.

Andrew Brod

September 29, 2009 - 4:54 pm EDT

I've edited others' written comments once or twice, but not as a journalist. I was part of an organization that had an interest in making the writers look good, and that's why I corrected their spelling and grammar. By correcting the candidates' spelling in their questionnaire responses, you did the same thing. I would think that making the candidates look good would NOT be your objective, but I guess I just don't understand journalism, N&R style.

Now, this doesn't have to be a rigid rule. You could have sent the candidates copy to proofread, and any errors that remained after that would obviously not be mere typos. I mean, we all make mistakes, and I've probably made one or two in this quick response. But tidying up the candidates' copy without consulting them? Sounds like the work of a PR hack to me.

Andrew Brod

September 29, 2009 - 4:56 pm EDT

More to the point, I think I'd want to know who can write a complete sentence and who can't. To me, the misspellings wouldn't be distractions, but rather information.

SueP

September 29, 2009 - 5:48 pm EDT

Andrew is right; so are all the people who responded to you and retweeted what I said on Twitter. Even Dan Conover agreed,so it must be right. You should not have changed anything they wrote; we want to know if candidates can read and write effectively (and an "its" and "it's" mistake won't change my vote) because elected officials have a ton of stuff to read and comprehend and I want to know if they have basic skills - enough to write a coherent sentence in response to a question.

Lack of ability to write effectively is one of the biggest business issues today and changing their errors doesn't allow us that particular tool to evaluate candidates. I certainly hope the resulting page is disclaimered for all time right on the page. The N&R should report news; it shouldn't be making it.

John Robinson

September 29, 2009 - 5:55 pm EDT

Have I mentioned it's just the spelling? And that in all but a few cases they were no more than some typos?

I hesitate to tell you this, but we fix the spelling and rewrite much of what we get from both our staff and from news releases. We correct the spelling in letters to the editor, too. We don't change the meaning. I think you get a pretty good idea about the way the letter writer thinks and expresses himself or herself. At least I do.

John Robinson

September 29, 2009 - 5:13 pm EDT

To be clear, the grammar wasn't changed. If the sentence wasn't complete when submitted, it remains incomplete. If it was poorly constructed, it remains so. If the candidate ignores subject-verb agreement, and readers know what that is, they will be able to identify it still.

As I have heard from people on this issue, one thing occurs to me that didn't before, and it didn't go into the decision. That is a fear that many people would make assumptions about a candidate's ability to serve based on his or her ability to spell. But I understand that's your call to make, not mine.

A question: Would you have us leave even the occasional typo?

SueP

September 29, 2009 - 5:50 pm EDT

No, it wouldn't change my vote is someone made an occasional spelling error or typo but it changes their responses in their own hand (it's not like transcribing their oral comments).

brian444

September 30, 2009 - 1:00 am EDT

Well, you're certainly correct that I would infer a correlation between intelligence and good spelling. Look, if you think it's spelled "hender," chances are pretty good that you didn't graduate summa. But not everyone can be a genius like Ronald Reagan, the finest speller in the history of American politics.

Bottom line: you guys made the right call. Correcting typos is S.O.P., and once you've done that, you can't very well avoid correcting all misspellings. (If you warned candidates that their answers would be presented as is, that would change matters, since the normal expectation of light editing would be eliminated.) But grammar and phrasing are different animals. If you write a sentence containing multiple comma splices--or if you claim that "In reality, I am and will always be a person who is real to the core"--you are providing evidence that you are a moron. That evidence should not be concealed.

Linda P

September 29, 2009 - 6:22 pm EDT

I agree with the others about changing the candidates mistakes. A few honest typos need not be corrected. I would try to never return a questionaire with misspelled words for potential voters to see. Using correct grammar and spelling is very important for a City Council candidate. They are supposed to be our "city leaders"?

John Robinson

September 29, 2009 - 9:13 pm EDT

Before we made any spelling corrections, one candidate called and requested we fix a misspelling in her answers. Should we have done it at her request?

ryanshell

September 29, 2009 - 11:39 pm EDT

If candidate A spends 1 hr drafting/proofing responses while candidate B spends 20 minutes doing a rush job - is it right to correct the one that gave less effort? I think most people would say no.

No one is perfect and it is understood that mistakes will be made, but people should be able to see the mistakes and make their own judgement. It comes down to effort and attention to detail.

Ryan Shell
www.voteshell.com

jmwright

September 30, 2009 - 12:11 pm EDT

The ability to communicate well is an important quality in a candidate. We all make mistakes. I seem to find typos the moment I hit "send."

That being said, Ryan Shell is correct that "attention to detail" is important.

"There," "they're," and "their" are not interchangeable. Neither is "to," "two," and "too." Nor is "who," and "whom." A basic writing writing book such as The Everyday Writer" is readily available to anyone who needs coaching in that area.